Inflammatory diseases of the large intestine. Colon contrast enema and CT

Among the many inflammatory diseases of the colon, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis occur most frequently. For primary evaluation, endoscopy has widely replaced the barium enema (BE) as diagnostic method. BE, however can provide important additional informations in the differential diagnosis of chronic inflammatory colonic diseases. Purpose of this article is the demonstration of typical, but also of atypical radiological changes in different stages of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as calling attention to the importance of CT. A BE demands a refined examination technique using double contrast. All CT-examinations have to be scrutinized for changes of the bowel and mesentery. A dedicated spiral-CT examination might be indicated in a known disease in order to obtain special informations. The advantage of a BE over endoscopy is a clear and reproducible demonstration of the patterns of distribution and character of the disease as well as the detection of fistulae. The classification into one or the other disease entity can be better accomplished. CT is superior in detecting bowel wall thickening, extraintestinal disease and complications. In diagnostic imaging of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, endoscopy and radiologic techniques are used complementarily.