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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Nov 15, 2015; 6(4): 140-149
Published online Nov 15, 2015. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v6.i4.140
Published online Nov 15, 2015. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v6.i4.140
Magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers of gastrointestinal motor function and fluid distribution
Asseel Khalaf, Robin C Spiller, Gordon W Moran, Luca Marciani, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre and NIHR Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom
Caroline L Hoad, Penny A Gowland, Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Khalaf A and Marciani L collected the data and all authors revised the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest for this review article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Luca Marciani, PhD, Associate Professor, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre and NIHR Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Nottingham, University Park street, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom. luca.marciani@nottingham.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-115-8231248 Fax: +44-115-8231409
Received: June 26, 2015
Peer-review started: June 27, 2015
First decision: September 17, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: October 20, 2015
Article in press: October 27, 2015
Published online: November 15, 2015
Peer-review started: June 27, 2015
First decision: September 17, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: October 20, 2015
Article in press: October 27, 2015
Published online: November 15, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of gastrointestinal motor function and fluids distribution is coming of age, with a range of MRI biomarkers that can be measured non-invasively. The novel MRI biomarkers include intestinal motility indexes, the small bowel water content and whole gut transit time. Future research directions will focus on small and large bowel motility and on gut transit. Further validation of the methods and automation of data analysis will finally translate the MRI biomarkers into clinical routine.