Review Article
MRI of Crohn's Anoperineal Disease
Shaunagh McDermott*, Anuradha S Shenoy-Bhangle and Michael S Gee | |
Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA | |
Corresponding Author : | Shaunagh McDermott Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA Tel: (857) 205-8501 Fax: (617) 726-4891 E-mail: smcdermott1@partners.org |
Received February 01, 2012; Accepted April 02, 2012; Published April 04, 2012 | |
Citation: McDermott S, Shenoy-Bhangle AS, Gee MS (2012) MRI of Crohn’s Anoperineal Disease. J Gastroint Dig Syst S9:001. doi: 10.4172/2161-069X.S9-001 | |
Copyright: © 2012 McDermott S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Abstract
Anoperineal involvement is seen in up to 38% of patients with Crohn’s disease. To adopt the best treatment strategy and avoid recurrences, it is important to obtain precise radiological information of the fistulous track. Magnetic resonance imaging provides precise information on the anatomy of the anal canal, the anal sphincteric complex, and the relationship of the fistula to the pelvic floor structures. In this article we review the anatomy of the anal canal, the pathogenesis of perianal fistula, different MRI sequences for the evaluation of fistula with emphasis on their imaging findings and an MR imaging based grading system for their classification.