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MRI of Acute Conditions of the Gastrointestinal Tract

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MRI of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Diagn Imaging))

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Key Points

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has often been considered a second-line, alternative imaging modality for the evaluation of patients with suspected acute gastrointestinal tract pathology because of its limited availability, cost, and relatively long imaging times. The multiplanar capability and excellent soft-tissue contrast of MRI, combined with the advent of ultrafast MRI techniques, however, have increased the utilization of MRI in more recent years for the imaging assessment of acute conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, because of its lack of ionizing radiation, MRI not only plays an especially critical role in the imaging evaluation of pregnant patients presenting with acute abdominal symptoms, but also is evolving to become a principal imaging modality for the evaluation of young patients with inflammatory bowel disease. This chapter presents the general principles regarding the imaging protocols for the evaluation of appendicitis in pregnant and nonpregnant patients, and discusses the MRI appearances of a variety of common and uncommon acute conditions of the gastrointestinal tract.

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  1. Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Karen S. Lee & Ivan Pedrosa

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  1. Karen S. Lee
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  2. Ivan Pedrosa
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  1. Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, AZ, 1105, The Netherlands

    J. Stoker (Professor of Radiology) (Professor of Radiology)

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Lee, K.S., Pedrosa, I. (2010). MRI of Acute Conditions of the Gastrointestinal Tract. In: Stoker, J. (eds) MRI of the Gastrointestinal Tract. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85532-3_17

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