Hintergrund Cystic fibrosis (CF) can affect the gastrointestinal tract. However, examinations
of the gastrointestinal transit usually require invasive measures or the use of ionizing
radiation. New imaging techniques, such as multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT),
offer new diagnostic approaches. We examined the gastrointestinal passage in CF patients
by contrast-enhanced MSOT (CE-MSOT) in order to identify alterations.
Methoden In our clinical study, n=5 patients with cystic fibrosis and n=5 healthy volunteers
received a standardized breakfast with ICG. One measurement using MSOT was taken before
breakfast and then further 6 over a period of 6 hours. The anatomical regions examined
were the gastric antrum, terminal ileum and sigmoid colon to determine the transit
time.
Ergebnisse While we were unable to detect any significant increase in the ICG signal measured
in the gastric antrum and sigmoid colon during the investigation, a significant change
over time in the terminal ileum in both groups in absolute measured values and values
normalized to a baseline value were detected. In the healthy patient group, there
was a significant increase in the ICG signal after 240 minutes (p<0.01). In the group
of patients with cystic fibrosis, this significant increase could be seen at 120 minutes
after ICG ingestion (p<0.05). This could indicate a possible faster intestinal transit
in the CF patients compared to the healthy control subjects. Signals of ICG were verified
in three consecutive stool samples by fluorescence imaging ([Abb. 1]).
Abb. 1 MSOT in CF patientens for the assessment of the transit time
Schlussfolgerung In this study, we demonstrated the clinical performance of MSOT for functional imaging
of the intestine in patients with cystic fibrosis. This makes it possible to detect
the orally administered dye using MSOT in patients with cystic fibrosis. In future,
this could reduce the number of invasive and stressful examinations and integrate
new imaging procedures into everyday clinical practice.
