Purpose: To evaluate the fused, colorized diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and anatomic T2 images compared to routine contrast-enhanced T1 images at pediatric magnetic resonance enterography (MRE).
Methods: Fused, colorized DWI/T2 images were created from patients with magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and colonoscopy/biopsy. Radiologists noted inflammation in five bowel segments (terminal ileum-rectosigmoid colon) on postcontrast images and DWI/T2 images. Test characteristics and agreement were calculated.
Results: For 20 patients, sensitivity/specificity/positive predictive value (PPV)/negative predictive value (NPV) were 0.53/0.90/0.77/0.76 for DWI/T2 and 0.45/0.90/0.72/0.73 for postcontrast images. Intraobserver agreement was ҡ=0.45-0.73. Interobserver agreement was ҡ=0.53 for DWI/T2 and ҡ=0.63 for postcontrast images.
Conclusion: DWI/T2 images are similar in sensitivity/specificity to contrast-enhanced images and with moderate intra/interobserver reliability.
Keywords: Diffusion-weighted imaging; Enterography; MRI; Pediatric.
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