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MR-Enterography: Technique

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MR Enterography

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Abstract

Intestinal assessment through magnetic resonance imaging is multifaceted and several technical variables have to be taken into account.

According to the way of administration of water contrast solution for luminal dilation, two main techniques can be performed for small bowel assessment: MR-Enteroclysis requires the placement of a nasojejunal tube, while MR-Enterography needs oral assumption.

Among the different enteric contrast media currently available, the choice usually falls on the biphasic ones. These agents are characterized by hyperintensity on T2-weighted scans and hypointensity on T1-weighted scans, which allow an improved assessment of intestinal walls without any risk of underestimating mural contrast enhancement.

Preparation to the exam includes prior fasting and avoidance of sedation.

Preference of supine or prone decubitus and administration of spasmolytics are still debated.

From the technical point of view, standard protocol mainly consists of multiplanar T2-weighted scans and T1-weighted acquisition with fat saturation obtained after gadolinium injection.

Nevertheless, additional acquisitions such as diffusion-weighted imaging, MR fluoroscopy, and cine-MR acquisitions can further help in disease assessment.

Furthermore, increased benefits deriving from advanced technical developments, such as magnetization transfer and artificial intelligence, are expected to emerge in the next future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, University Hospital Messina, Messina, Italy

    Silvio Mazziotti, Tommaso D’Angelo, Giorgio Ascenti & Giuseppe Cicero

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  1. Silvio Mazziotti
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  2. Tommaso D’Angelo
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  3. Giorgio Ascenti
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  4. Giuseppe Cicero
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Correspondence to Giuseppe Cicero .

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  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Silvio Mazziotti

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Alfredo Blandino

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Giuseppe Cicero

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Mazziotti, S., D’Angelo, T., Ascenti, G., Cicero, G. (2022). MR-Enterography: Technique. In: Mazziotti, S., Blandino, A., Cicero, G. (eds) MR Enterography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11930-9_3

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