Sherwin S. Chan, MD, PhD
Vice Chair, Radiology Research; Professor of Radiology, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Education Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full BiographyErin Opfer, DO
Section Chief, Cardiac Imaging; Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Education Assistant Professor of Radiology, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full BiographyAlain C. Cuna, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full BiographySherwin Chan, MD, PhD, and Erin Opfer, DO, Division of Radiology, and Alain Cuna, MD, Division of Neonatology, at Children’s Mercy Kansas City in collaboration with Jill Jones, MD, Division of Radiology, University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), recently received a $153,000 grant from the American College of Radiology Center for Research and Innovation. The fund for Collaborative Research in Imaging grant is a one-time investment in compelling, innovative research advances radiology practice.
The funded project is “Multicenter Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Bowel Ultrasound for Diagnosis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC).” NEC is a devastating inflammatory bowel disease that affects 5-10% of preterm infants with birth weight less than 1500 grams. Efforts to reduce the burden of NEC have been hindered by challenges surrounding its diagnosis. Bowel Ultrasound (BUS) is a non-invasive imaging modality that allows real-time assessment of the intestinal wall, vascular perfusion, peristalsis, and abdominal fluid. Diagnostic cohort studies have suggested that BUS may be helpful in evaluating NEC, and a meta-analysis performed by this team found that BUS seems to have comparable diagnostic accuracy as abdominal x-ray for NEC diagnosis.
Children’s Mercy is the primary study site and will be providing education to radiologists, coordinators, and neonatologist on all study related tasks at KUMC. The purpose of this research study is to determine the clinical usefulness of BUS for the evaluation of NEC in diverse NICU settings.
“While previous research suggests that BUS may be useful for management of neonates with NEC, the actual impact of BUS on patient outcomes remains unknown. If successful, this current randomized controlled trial will markedly strengthen the evidence for using BUS in addition to abdominal radiographs for NEC and hopefully create a higher standard of care for these patients. This grant could also prove that with sufficient training, BUS examinations will be generalizable to many different clinical settings including NICUs in adult hospitals (where most NICUs are located),” said Drs. Chan and Cuna.
More information on the fund for collaborative research in imaging grant can be found at the American College of Radiology’s website.