GASTROINTESTINAL IMAGING

Gastrointestinal malignancies account for the largest number of cancer cases and resulting deaths across the world. There is a great need to improve medicine's approach toward patients, to prevent cancer development, allow for earlier diagnoses, when cancers are still curable, and improve outcomes. Similarly, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses a spectrum of pathologies that place a substantial burden on affected patients. Noninvasive imaging modalities that allow for diagnosis and follow-up are much needed and may improve patient comfort and compliance. Although positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is still an emerging modality, it already has proven itself in both of those realms. In gastroesophageal cancers, the limited study pool shows promising results pointing to the improvement of tumor resectability assessment, metastases detection, and posttreatment evaluation. In colorectal cancer, a relatively larger number of studies show that PET/MRI has clinically useful advantages over computed tomography (CT), PET/CT, and MRI when staging untreated cancers and evaluating recurrent/residual disease and may impact on management. Finally, in IBD, PET/MRI may outperform other imaging technologies in quantifying inflammation, characterizing stenoses, and detecting complications. PET/MRI has a logistical advantage by working as a “one-stop-shop” modality, which avoids multiple visits and may result in shorter diagnostic workups. Furthermore, it carries higher diagnostic potential in a single package, with minimal drawbacks.