Grant helps determine MRI suitability for Crohn's disease

MRI scans can be used as an alternative to colonoscopy when monitoring the course of the disease and assessing its response to treatment.

Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (TU Delft) is joining six European partners from the academic world in the VIGOR++ project to develop an objective, quantitative method for assessing these MRI scans.

The researchers expect that this method will enable doctors to more accurately determine the activity level of the disease over time and that it may lead to a reduction in the number of colonoscopies.

Crohn’s disease is characterised by alternating periods of increased and reduced disease activity, so it is necessary to assess the stage of the disease in order to administer the correct treatment.

In order to evaluate Crohn’s disease, doctors ask their patients questions about their condition and carry out a colonoscopy, during which samples of tissue are removed.

However, patients’ answers are not always sufficiently reliable and a colonoscopy procedure is both unpleasant for the patient and less suitable for regular monitoring of the condition.