MR Enterography of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Review of Imaging Techniques and Findings

Introduction Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn disease (CD), and indeterminate colitis. While sharing many clinical features, ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease are considered separate entities with unique characteristics. Due to the chronic nature of these diseases, frequent and repeated imaging is often necessary for diagnosis and therapeutic planning. Magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) has emerged as a robust imaging modality for the evaluation of IBD, offering many advantages over conventional imaging techniques while sparing the patient exposure to ionizing radiation. This review will briefly discuss the pathology and epidemiology of IBD, provide a practical guide to the performance of MRE, and highlight various classic imaging findings frequently encountered in these patients.