Magnetic resonance colonography.

Magnetic resonance colonography (MRC) is performed on a whole body scanner after laxative-based purgation and distension of the large bowel with water. To achieve good image quality, acquisition of sequences within a comfortable breath-hold time is essential. Frequently, fast 3D fat-saturated T1-weighted techniques with parallel imaging are used to meet this demand, providing "dark lumen" contrast of the bowel with high signal intensity of the bowel wall after intravenous injection of contrast agent. This article sheds light on MRC technique, image acquisition, post processing, and normal findings, relevant pathologies, and differential diagnoses of the most frequent pathologies encountered at MRC.