RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Assessment of Ileocolonic Inflammation in Crohn’s Disease: Which Surrogate Marker Is Better—MaRIA, Clermont, or PET/MR Index? Initial Results of a Feasibility Trial JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO J Nucl Med FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP 851 OP 857 DO 10.2967/jnumed.118.216937 VO 60 IS 6 A1 Li, Yan A1 Langhorst, Jost A1 Koch, Anna Katharina A1 Demircioglu, Aydin A1 Nensa, Felix A1 Kirchner, Julian A1 Beiderwellen, Karsten A1 Catalano, Onofrio A1 Forsting, Michael A1 Herrmann, Ken A1 Umutlu, Lale YR 2019 UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/60/6/851.abstract AB Our objective was to define an 18F-FDG PET/MR enterography index as a hybrid surrogate marker for active ileocolonic inflammation in Crohn’s disease (CD) and assess its diagnostic performance in comparison to validated MR indices (MR index of activity [MaRIA], Clermont score). Methods: Fifty-two CD patients with recurrent symptoms underwent ileocolonoscopy and 18F-FDG PET/MR enterography. Three hundred three ileocolonic segments were assessed for inflammation using MaRIA and the Clermont score as well as the newly defined PET/MR index. On the basis of tobit regression, the PET/MR index was defined as (0.87 × wall thickness) + (1.97 × edema) + (0.83 × ulceration) + (0.55 × SUVmax ratio) + 1.14. The endoscopic activity of inflammation was determined by the simplified endoscopic activity score for CD (SES-CD). Receiver-operating-characteristic curves for each surrogate marker were created and tested against each other using the DeLong test, and diagnostic accuracies were compared using the McNemar test. Correlations between surrogate markers and SES-CD were tested with the Spearman rank correlation test. Results: The PET/MR index showed a comparable sensitivity but a significantly higher specificity and accuracy than MaRIA and the Clermont score in predicting both active and severe inflammation (active inflammation: specificities of 0.933, 0.711, and 0.707 and accuracies of 0.921, 0.739, and 0.736, P < 0.001; severe inflammation: specificities of 0.91, 0.81, and 0.785 and accuracies of 0.914, 0.818, and 0.795, P < 0.01, respectively). All surrogate markers correlated moderately with SES-CD on a segmental basis and a global level (0.5 < ρ < 0.7, all P < 0.001). Conclusion: As a hybrid surrogate marker comprising MR parameters and the PET component, the PET/MR index yielded significantly improved specificity and diagnostic accuracy compared with conventional MR indices (MaRIA and the Clermont score), demonstrating its high potential for noninvasive assessment of CD.