Magnetic resonance imaging in gastroenterology: time to say good-bye to all that endoscopy?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been described as the most important development in medical diagnosis since the discovery of the roentgen ray more than 100 years ago. The effectiveness of MRI has been extended to make it applicable in a wide variety of gastrointestinal disorders. The attention of gastroenterologists is currently focusing on pancreaticobiliary and bowel diseases. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) has become a competitive alternative to diagnostic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in a variety of hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases. Magnetic resonance enteroscopy has the potential to become the preferable method for evaluating the entire small bowel; virtual colonoscopy, on the other hand, is far from the stage at which it could be promoted as a tool for general screening purposes in suspected colonic diseases. Its drawbacks include problems with standardization, implementation of the techniques in generalized settings, and patient acceptance.