Advances in Imaging Specific Mediators of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic remitting and relapsing inflammation of the lower gastrointestinal tract. The etiology underlying IBD remains unknown, but it is thought to involve a hypersensitive immune response to environmental antigens, including the microbiota. Diagnosis and monitoring of IBD is heavily reliant on endoscopy, which is invasive and does not provide information regarding specific mediators. This review describes recent developments in imaging of IBD with a focus on positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of inflammatory mediators, and how these developments may be applied to the microbiota.