The study, which began last July, has so far recruited 15 patients. Dillman said they hope to enroll 30 by its end. "We're doing pretty good and are on target," he said about recruitment.

In the study, Dillman said they'll compare conventional gray-scale and Doppler ultrasound with MRI on patients with newly diagnosed small bowel Crohn's. The children will each receive five ultrasound scans from two different physicians over a six-month period. The researchers will compare the two physicians' scans with each other, to see if they agree.


The physicians will also perform elastography scans using equipment made by Siemens Healthcare, to see if changes in bowel wall hardening help predict outcomes. All ultrasounds will be performed by physicians, not sonographers, Dillman said.

"If patients present with very hard bowel wall, perhaps our study will show they should go to surgery sooner rather than later as they are likely to fail medical management," Dillman said.

The study will also involve blood samples to look for elevated inflammatory markers, and surveys for patients and their parents to say what they feel about each procedure and which imaging test they like best.


Back to HCB News

More Industry Headlines