Although CT enterography (CTE) has been shown to accurately detect inflammatory changes in patients with Crohn’s disease, concerns remain about the relatively high dose of ionizing radiation generated by the procedure. A recent experiment using a model-based iterative reconstruction technique (MBIR) found that a low-radiation dose version of CTE was both sensitive and specific. Study highlights include:

• Among 163 Crohn’s disease patients, 92 of whom had active disease, low-dose CTE was equivalent to standard dose CTE.
• The low-dose approach resulted in a sensitivity rate of 85% to 94% and a specificity of 84% to 97%.
• Radiation exposure was reduced by 3.30 mSV on average using the MBIR technique.