Imaging (especially MRI) is an essential element in the management of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD = Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis) and is also central to the diagnosis and staging of rectal/anal cancer.
MR Enterography is the reference examination for the initial assessment and follow-up of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, guiding the choice and adaptation of specific treatment(s). Fasting is required. You will need to drink approximately 1 L of a liquid which will slightly distend your bowel, allowing your radiologist to better visualize its walls and detect possible signs that could impact the prognosis (abscess, fistula…). A small venous line will be placed, allowing an injection of a contrast agent during the image-acquisition. In the event of contraindication to MRI, this examination may be replaced by an enteroscanner. In case of an associated perineal pathology, an additional pelvic MRI may be performed, allowing a detailed (millimetric) and precise anatomical study of perineal fistulas, in order to guide your surgeon / gastroenterologist for their choice of therapeutic approach.
Because of its anatomical precision and high spatial resolution, MRI is the examination for cancer pathologies of the rectum and anal canal and can determine the stage of the disease, thus guiding future therapeutic choices.
Doctor Aïna Venkatasamy is a radiologist and co-director of the IHU Strasbourg’s Medical Imaging Facility (GIE) alongside Professor Gallix. Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Molecular Biology (Ph.D.). she has worked at the Strasbourg University Hospital, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and the Universitätsklinikum Freiburg in Germany. She specializes in head and neck (ENT), body and oncology imaging.
Doctor Dominique Charneau is a radiologist, with 30 years of experience in radiology, especially in abdominal imaging.
Doctor Vanina Faucher is a Hospital Practitioner at the University Hospitals of Strasbourg, specialized in abdominal imaging.
