Science to practice: do mural attenuation and thickness at contrast-enhanced CT enterography correlate with endoscopic and histologic findings of inflammation in Crohn disease?

SUMMARY: Endoscopy is frequently used as the reference standard in the evaluation of inflammation. However, endoscopy enables visualization of the mucosa only, has a limited reach, and has difficulty in anatomic orientation. Therefore, it is not a stand-alone diagnostic procedure. Imaging is needed if one is to visualize the entire intestinal wall, define the extent of disease, and categorize disease subtypes. Bodily et al in this issue of Radiology have described an objective, more reliable, and hopefully reproducible method of measuring active inflammation of a segment of bowel by quantifying mural enhancement in patients examined with CT enterography. Their results showed good correlation with ileoscopic and histologic findings of active inflammation.