Diagnostic utility of CT enterography in the evaluation of ileocecal mucosal lesions of uncertain diagnosis on ileocolonoscopy.

Purpose: Ileocolonoscopy aids in the diagnosis of ileocecal region pathologies when typical mucosal lesions are seen. However, in many cases the mucosal lesions of the ileocaecal region are atypical, rendering themselves to diagnostic dilemma. The present study aimed to study the role of computed tomography (CT) enterography in the evaluation of symptomatic patients who demonstrated ileocecal mucosal lesions of uncertain diagnosis on ileocolonoscopy.

Material and methods: Symptomatic patients who had ileocolonoscopy documented ileocecal mucosal lesions of uncertain diagnosis were enrolled. Patients were subjected to CT enterography within 10 days of ileocolonoscopy. On CT enterography a diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD) or ileocaecal tuberculosis (ITB) was made. The diagnosis obtained by CT enterography was correlated with the final diagnosis obtained from histopathology. Using descriptive statistics, the diagnostic performance of CT enterography was evaluated.

Results: A total of 153 cases were enrolled in the study. CT enterography findings were present in 147 cases, resulting in a diagnostic yield of 96%. Out of these, 58.16% (89/153) had CD, 26.14% (40/153) had ITB, 6.5% (10/153) had infectious ileitis, and 9.15% (14/153) were indeterminate on histopathology. CT enterography correctly identified 78.65% (70/89) of CD and 75% (30/40) of ITB. CT enterography had a sensitivity of 78.65% and 75%, specificity of 67.19% and 87.61%, positive predictive value of 76.92% and 68.18%, and diagnostic accuracy of 73.86% and 84.31% for diagnosing CD and ITB, respectively.

Conclusions: CT enterography provided a high diagnostic yield in ileocaecal mucosal lesions of uncertain significance on endoscopy. CD and ITB were the predominant diseases detected in these individuals. CT enterography had a good diagnostic performance in the detection of these 2 disorders.