• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.149-159
• /
• 2015

Crohn's disease is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory disease of the intestines characterized by frequent relapse and remission. It often develops in children and adolescents, who are vulnerable to repeated exposure to ionizing radiations. Magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) is an increasingly important radiation-free imaging modality that is used to evaluate pediatric patients with Crohn's disease. MRE can evaluate extraluminal and extraintestinal abnormalities as well as the status of the bowel wall. In addition, MRE has an advantage in the evaluation of the small bowel involvement. MRE can be used for the initial diagnosis of Crohn's disease, and can aid in the assessment of disease activity and complications such as penetrating and fibrostenotic diseases. The aims of this article are to review the MRE technique for obtaining diagnostic and high-quality images and to discuss interpretations of imaging findings in patients with Crohn's disease.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 1995

Background: Endobronchial tuberculosis is classified into 7 subtypes as fibrostenotic type, edematous-hyperemic type, actively caseating type, tumorous type, ulcerative type, granular type and nonspecific bronchitic type by bronchoscopic features, and we make a prospective study to follow up how bronchoscopic findings change during treatment-course in each subtype of active endobronchial tuberculosis. Methods: We planned to do follow-up bronchoscopic examination every month until there was no significant change in endobronchial lesion, then every 3 months and at the end of the treatment in each patient with biopsy proven endobronchial tuberculosis from May, 1990 to August, 1993. Results: 1) This study included 66 cases, but bronchoscopic follow-up was completed as scheduled in 47 cases. 2) In actively caseating and edematous-hyperemic type, bronchostenosis occurred within 2 or 3 months of treatment in about 2/3 of total cases. 3) In fibrostenotic type, bronchostenosis did not improve in spite of the treatment. 4) In tumorous type, the changes in bronchoscopic findings were unpredictable because new lesions occured on other sites even 4 or 6 months after treatment in 2 cases and the size of initial mass increased 6 months after treatment in 1 case (among 7 cases). 5) Granular and nonspecific bronchitic type improved without significant sequelae within 2 or 3 months of treatment. Conclusion: It may be necessary to follow up the patient with bronchoscopy repeatedly 2 or 3 months after starting treatment in active endobronchial tuberculosis, and it is better to perform bronchoscopic examination at 6 months of treatment, especially in patients with tumorous type because there is possibility that new endobronchial lesion occurs. Aggressive therapeutic modalities such as stent-insertion, laser therapy or electrocautery should be considered to prevent bronchostenosis in cases with granulation tissue, fibrostenotic and tumorous types of endobronchial tuberculosis.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.193-200
• /
• 2023

Purpose: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic, idiopathic bowel disorder that can progress to partial or complete bowel obstruction. At present, there are no reliable diagnostic tests that can readily distinguish between acute inflammatory, purely fibrotic and mixed inflammatory and fibrotic. Our aim is to study the utility of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in combination with shear wave elastography (SWE) to differentiate fibrotic from inflammatory strictures in children with obstructive CD of the terminal ileum. Methods: Twenty-five (19 male) children between 2016-2021 with CD of the terminal ileum were recruited into the study. Among these patients, 22 had CEUS kinetic measurements of tissue perfusion, including wash-in slope (dB/sec), peak intensity (dB), time to peak intensity (sec), area under the curve (AUC) (dB sec), and SWE. In total, 11 patients required surgery due to bowel obstruction. Histopathologic analysis was performed by a pathologist who was blinded to the CEUS and SWE test results. Results: Patients that underwent surgical resection had significantly higher mean area under the curve on CEUS compared to patients responsive to medical therapy (p=0.03). The AUC also correlated with the degree of hypertrophy and the percent fibrosis of the muscularis propria, as determined by histopathologic grading (p<0.01). There was no difference in the mean elastography measurements between these two patient groups. Conclusion: CEUS is a useful radiological technique that can help identify pediatric patients with medically refractory obstructive fibrotic strictures of the terminal ileum that should be considered for early surgical resection.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.742-755
• /
• 1997

Background : Endobronchial tuberculosis(ET) is still relatively common disease in Korea. We intended to evaluate the length of endobronchial lesion, peribronchial thickness, luminal irregularity and associated mediastinal lymph node enlargement with Chest CT to get information for such aggressive treatment as electrocautery, laser therapy and so on of bronchial stricture in ET, and also to compare the change of Chest CT finding with that of bronchoscopic finding after one month of anti-tuberculosis treatment. Method : We performed CT in 26 patients who were diagnosed as ET by bronchoscopy at Boramae Hospital from November 1991 to March 1996. After classifying ET into seven subtypes according to bronchoscopic finding, we analyzed the CT finding of each subtype. And we followed up the bronchoscopy, CT, and PIT after one month of anti-tuberculosis treatment, and compared the change of CT findings with those of bronchoscopic findings in nine patients. Results : Age of the patients was from 17 to 73 years old, and the ratio of male to female was 1 : 25 with absolute female predominance. The site(s) of bronchial involvement by tuberculosis is one in 14 cases, two in nine cases and three in one case, respectively, and the left main bronchus was the most frequently involved site (13 cases for multiple involvements and 7 cases for single involvement among 26 cases). The length of bronchial involvement by tuberculosis which was measured by CT was from 10 to 55 mm, and there was a tendency that the length of involved lesion in fibrostenotic type was shorter than that of actively caseating type. Bronchial stricture on CT was noticed in 25 (96%) cases and the range of severity was from total occlusion to near-normal and also showed wide variation even though the subtype of ET was same. The increase of peribronchial thickness which was measured by CT, was noticed in 21 cases (91%) among 23 cases (in which the measurement was possible), and there was no improvement of peribronchial thickness in those cases which showed little improvement in bronchial stricture despite anti-tuberculosis treatment. There was no difference in the luminal irregularity of involved bronchi on CT in relation to bronchoscopic subtypes. The mediastinal lymph node enlargement, defined as the diameter of lymph node was larger than 1cm on CT, was detected in 20 cases (77%), and right side was more frequently involved (L : R = 1 : 5.2). The CT finding usually showed extrinsic bronchial compression but showed direct invasion in two cases which were bronchoscopically classified as tumorous type. When follow-up bronchoscopy and CT was performed after one month of anti-tuberculosis treatment in nine patients, CT showed significant improvement in peribronchial thickness and mediastinal lymph node enlargement. Bronchial stricture was also improved in 6 cases but aggravated in 3 cases despite anti-tuberculosis therapy. In two cases which were classified as fibrostenotic type by bronchoscopy, CT showed significant improvement in bronchial stricture, interestingly. Conclusion : We concluded that the role of Chest CT was complimentary to bronchoscopy in ET, since CT was useful in evaluating the length of bronchial involvement, peribronchial thickness, and mediastinal lymph node enlargement.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.236-244
• /
• 1991

The prevalence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis is 1.8% in 1990, and endobronchial tuberculosis may exist in 10 to 40% of active disease. Endobronchial tuberculosis usually leaves bronchial stenosis as the complication despite of modern chemotherapy, and it is often misdiagnosed as bronchial asthma. When bronchial stenosis involves major airway, its treatment needs such special measures as steroid therapy, surgical intervention and/or laser therapy, but the therapeutic result is often disappointing. To exploit a new treatment modality for bronchial stenosis, balloon dilatation was carried out in 12 patients with endobronchial tuberculosis. Under local anesthesia, 4F-Fogarty balloon was inserted via bronchofiberscope in ten cases and 10F-Gruentzig balloon was introduced under fluoroscopic guide in two others. Endobronchial tuberculoses were subdivided into two(16.7%) with actively caseating type, seven (58.3%) with fibrostenotic type, and three (25.0%) with stenotic type without fibrosis, according to the bronchoscopic findings. In 7 healed cases which were all stenotic with fibrosis, three (42.9%) took favorable turn in clinical status but four (57.1%) were not improved with balloon dilatation. In 5 active cases, all (two with actively-caseating type and three with stenotic type without fibrosis) were improved with this method. $FEV_{1.0}$ or FVC increased 10% or more after procedure in seven (70.0%) of ten and bronchial lumen remained enlarged in eight (66.7%) of twelve, in whom follow-up examination was done after the procedure. Balloon dilatation of bronchial stenosis is more effective, when endobronchial tuberculosis is in active stage than in healed fibrotic stage. It is suggested that bronchial stenosis can be minimized by early diagnosis and early application of balloon dilatation in the course of disease.