Paediatric magnetic resonance enteroclysis under general anaesthesia - initial experience

MR enterography is the accepted imaging reference standard for small bowel assessment in inflammatory bowel disease. There is an increasing cohort of children with inflammatory bowel disease presenting at an early age (< 5 years) with severe disease. Younger children present a technical challenge for enterography because of the need for sedation/general anaesthesia to allow image optimisation and the need for oral contrast to allow adequate luminal assessment. Through our experiences, MR enteroclysis under general anaesthesia has proven to be a successful imaging technique for the work-up of these patients. In this paper, we present our institutional practice for performing MR enteroclysis under general anaesthesia.