Small bowel MRI enteroclysis or follow through: Which is optimal?

Table 1 Indication for 114 consecutive MRFT or MRE examinations performed on 108 patients

	Patients	MRFT	MRE
Gender: Male	41.2% (47/114)	32.65% (16/49)	47.7% (31/65)
Age (yr): mean (range) ± SE	40.7 (14-78) ± 16.5	39.1 (14-74) ± 15.4	43.6 (17-78) ± 17.6
Indication
Known or suspected CD	86.0% (98/114)	93.8% (46/49)	80.0% (52/65)
Iron deficiency anaemia	7.0% (8/114)	0%	12.3% (8/65)
Resistant coeliac disease	3.5% (4/114)	6.1% (3/49)	1.5% (1/65)
Other	3.5% (4/114)	0%	6.2% (4/65)

MRFT: MR follow-through; MRE: MR enteroclysis; CD: Crohn’s disease.

Table 2 Small bowel (SB) distension and artefact in 114 consecutive MRFT or MRE examinations performed on 108 patients

	All Patients	MRFT	MRE
Good proximal bowel distension	76.3% (87/114)	65.3% (32/49)	84.6% (55/65)
Good distal bowel distension	93.9% (107/114)	97.8% (45/49)	95.4% (62/65)
No artifact	75.4% (86/114)	81.6% (40/49)	70.8% (46/65)
Good proximal and distal bowel distension	75.4% (86/114)	63.3% (31/49)	84.6% (55/65)

Table 3 Assessment of proximal SB distension in relation to MRI investigation, patient age and sex

	Proximal SB distension			P value
	Good proximal SB distension	Odds ratio	95% CI
MRE	84.6% (55/65)	4.365	1.619-11.772	0.004
MRFT	65.3% (32/49)	Ref
30-50 yr	86.7% (39/45)	4.882	1.463-16.294	0.010
< 30 yr	71.0% (22/31)	1.561	0.495-4.917	0.447
> 50 yr	68.4% (26/38)	Ref
Female	77.6% (52/67)	1.646	0.616-4.395	0.320
Male	74.5 % (35/47)	Ref