Title:FDG-PET/CT Identifies Inflammatory Activity and Presence of Fistulas in a Patient with Crohn´s Disease
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Author(s): Irina Wimmer, Gregory Minear, Reinhard Brustbauer, Andreas Mayer, Peter Gotzinger and Karl Dam
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Crohn Disease, CT-E, FDG-PET/CT, inflammatory activity, MR-E.
Abstract: Crohn's Disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder which can lead to complications
like fistulas, strictures and abscesses. It is difficult to differentiate between chronic fibrotic and
acute inflammatory processes with current non-invasive and invasive methods. FDG-PET/CT might
help to identify active inflammatory processes and morphological information via one examination. It
is a case report of a 22 year old woman diagnosed with CD who experienced an abscess of the left
psoas muscle after few years which had to be drained. In 2011, she again complained about left side abdominal pain. This
case underlines the usefulness of a combined PET/CT study for identifying active inflammatory processes common on patients
suffering from Crohn’s disease. Generally it would be optimal to combine the PET and a diagnostic quality CT-E
into a single session.