Devkumar Mustafi1,
Sheng-Ru Shiou2, Xiaobing Fan3, Erica Markiewicz1,
Gregory S. Karczmar1, Erika Claud4
1Radiology,
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 2Pediatrics,
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 3Radiology,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 4Pediatrics and
Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a poorly understood, life-threatening illness afflicting premature infants. The pathophysiology for this disease is also poorly understood. Moreover, there is no suitable animal model or appropriate method for monitoring the disease non-invasively. Using high-resolution anatomical and diffusion weighted imaging, including pixel-by-pixel T2 and ADC maps, in conjunction with the gold-standard histological images of the excised ileal tissue samples and the measured levels of intestinal inflammatory cytokines, we have detected NEC in 2-4 days old rat pups. We have also assessed intestinal injuries prior to clinical symptoms in a physiologic rat pup model of NEC.