DUPLEXSONOGRAPHY OF ARTERIA-MESENTERICA-S UPERIOR IN PATIENTS WITH MORBUS-CROHN

Percutaneous abdominal ultrasonography of patients with chronic inflam matory bowel disease provides important information on the extent and pattern of invasion of the affected sections of bowel and the associat ed complications. Our own studies investigated the haemodynamic change s in the superior mesenteric artery: duplex ultrasonography was used t o measure flow rate, the vascular diameter and the vascular resistance indices RI and PI in 40 healthy subjects and 41 Crohn's disease patie nts. The blood flow volume was measured before and after a meal. The C rohn's disease patients were classified according to the disease activ ity, defined by the Best index, the van-Hees index, and the severity a ctivity index. The duplex ultrasonographic haemodynamic findings alone were inadequate for assigning Crohn's disease patients to separate ac tivity groups.