Establishment of a protocol for PET/MRI enterography with [18F]-2-FDG with for the diagnosis of inflammatory and malign lesions of the small intestine

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Bockisch; Professor Dr. Thomas Lauenstein
• Subject Area: Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiobiology
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 239242301

Diseases affecting the small intestine are only partially accessible for endoscopic procedures. For this reason, special imaging techniques are in use. A common, inflammatory bowel disease is Crohn's disease (estimated prevalence: 120-200 per 100,000). For the evaluation of the small intestine, non-invasive radiological and nuclear medicine techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) can successfully be used. To date, inflammatory affections are usually identified using the combination of PET with computed tomography (CT). Recent developments allow the combination of PET with MRI in a single device. With this combination and the excellent soft tissue contrast of MRI a significant reduction in radiation exposure compared to PET/CT is possible. Since early 2012 our institute operates a combined PET/MRI. Our goal is to evaluate the performance in the diagnosis of small bowel pathologies, beginning in patients with Crohn's disease. In a second step the resulting examination protocol will be evaluated in different diseases of the small bowel, the graft versus host disease (GVHD) and gastrointestinal stroma tumors (GIST). If we can demonstrate significant benefits in primary diagnosis or diesease monitoring, the method shall be intruduced into clinical practice. In this way, future patients should benefit from the technology with a significantly lower radiation exposure by replacing PET/CT by PET/MRI. The study was approved by the local institutional review board.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Institution: Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Essen; Kliniken Essen-Süd ; Christliche Krankenhausgemeinschaft Werden
• Participating Persons: Dr. Karsten Beiderwellen; Professor Dr. Guido G.H. Gerken; Privatdozent Dr. Till-Alexander Heusner