Non Invasive Characterization of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Using Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography
Condition: Crohn's Disease; Ulcerative Colitis; IBD
MeSH terms: Crohn Disease; Colitis; Colitis, Ulcerative; Intestinal Diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Monocentric, prospective observational study to assess bowel inflammation in children with
      chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT).
    

Detailed description: 
      Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) play a major role in child and adolescent medicine. 25 % of
      patients with IBD are younger than 18 years of age at diagnosis and 25 % of those are even
      younger than 10 years of age at disease onset. The incidence of IBD in children and
      adolescents is 5-11/100 000 in Germany. IBD comprises mainly two entities, namely Crohn's
      disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients with CD develop chronic and intermittent
      transmural inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, which manifests with symptoms like
      diarrhea, hematochezia, abdominal pain, fatigue and malnutrition. This often results in
      weight loss and an increased risk of numerous complications such as the development of
      fistulas, perforations and intestinal strictures. In addition, growth disturbances and
      delayed onset of puberty are more frequent. Overall, the course of the disease can only be
      compared between children and adults to a very limited extent, as the disease often
      progresses more rapidly and severely in children. Accordingly, the procedure and
      recommendations for children with CD differ from those of adults. In addition to clinical
      scores, laboratory chemical parameters (blood count, CrP, calprotectin) and imaging
      diagnostics (endoscopy, ultrasound, MRT) are available to assess disease activity. However,
      the latter are only of limited use for routine monitoring due to their invasiveness, the need
      for sedation and the use of contrast agents. Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomograph (MSOT) on
      the other hand allows, comparable to sonography, a non-invasive, quantitative imaging of the
      composition of target tissues in children without sedation. Previous studies have shown that
      the quantitative determination of hemoglobin provides information on blood flow and
      inflammatory activity in the bowel of adult patients with Crohn's disease. In this pilot
      study, the intestinal wall of children will be characterized by MSOT to differentiate between
      CD, UC, and unclassified inflammatory bowel disease (U-IBD) and to quantify changes and
      correlate them with routine parameters. This could lead to a new possibility of non-invasive
      evaluation of disease forms and activity comparable to previous findings in adult patients
      with CD.
    

Intervention name(s): Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT)
Intervention type(s): Device
Intervention description(s): Non-invasive transcutaneous MSOT imaging of the bowel wall (terminal ileum, ascending caecum/colon, transverse colon, descending colon, and sigmoid colon).
Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Patients from the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital
        Erlangen
      
Biospecimen description: 
      Routine biopsies
    
Keywords: MSOT; Crohn's Disease; Crohn Disease; CD; Ulcerative Colitis; UC; chronic inflammatory bowel disease; IBD