MRI for gastrointestinal diseases Advances in assessment of small bowel motility and perianal Crohn’s disease

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a frequently used imaging technique for several gastrointestinal diseases. The research in this thesis focuses on advances in the use of cine-MRI for small bowel motility disorders and MRI for perianal Crohn’s disease.
Cine-MRI has been increasingly used to investigate small bowel motility disorders. In this thesis, the robustness of quantified small bowel motility measurements in different populations is evaluated. Furthermore, the use of cine-MRI to gain insight in small bowel motility patterns in the severe motility disorder chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is investigated.
For Crohn’s perianal fistulas, MRI is the recommended imaging technique to evaluate fistula activity and response to treatment. Several MRI scores have been developed to evaluate treatment response and fistula healing. In this thesis, different MRI scores are evaluated in patients receiving medical and surgical treatment. Furthermore the role of MRI to predict long-term treatment outcomes is investigated and fistula healing at MRI is compared between different treatments.