New imaging technique could change how Crohn's disease is treated

PET/MRI of FAPI radiotracer uptake in Crohn's disease

Images in a 44-year-old man with Crohn's disease with a predominately fibrotic stricture. Coronal fused T1-weighted volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination postcontrast PET/MR image. A stricture (arrow) within the neoterminal ileum shows marked gallium 68 fibroblast activation protein inhibitor uptake.

Courtesy of RSNA.

The FAPI radiotracer experts used in this research can bind specifically to the connective tissue cells that cause intestinal wall fibrosis common to Crohn's disease.