Radiologic Gastrointestinal Imaging

Foreword
D i a g n o s t i c Im a g i n g : A P e e p h o l e
i n t o M a n y o f t h e B o d y ’s D r e s s i n g
Rooms

Alan L. Buchman, MD, MSPH, FACP, FACG, FACN, AGAF

Consulting Editor

Diagnostic imaging provides a window in an otherwise cloaked human being. Increas-

ingly, less invasive imaging techniques are replacing direct examination though ori-
fices, regardless of whether natural or manmade. Various imaging techniques can
be combined, as in the case of PET/computed tomography or PET/MR, to provide
more functional imaging. Today’s imaging provides a resolution previously only imag-
ined. In other cases, these evolved imaging techniques serve to complement endo-
scopic views by revealing what lies beyond the tip or walls of the scope, and in
some cases, such techniques as endoscopic ultrasound, radiologic and endoscopic
techniques, have been combined. Dr Pickhardt has selected a group of renowned ra-
diologists at the forefront of their fields who discuss recent advancements in gastroin-
testinal cancer detection and management, as well as the imaging of those organs
generally off limits to most endoscopic procedures, including the liver, spleen, and
pancreas. The way in which modern imaging techniques, with evolving software, com-
plement endoscopic visualization of the biliary tree, the small intestine, colon and

Gastroenterol Clin N Am 47 (2018) xiii–xiv

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gtc.2018.04.015 gastro.theclinics.com
0889-8553/18/ª 2018 Published by Elsevier Inc.
xiv Foreword

rectum, is presented. As pointed out by Dr Pickhardt, the radiologist has evolved from
being a competitor to the gastroenterologist in some ways to becoming indispensable
to the gastroenterologist in order to provide optimal patient care.

Alan L. Buchman, MD, MSPH, FACP, FACG, FACN, AGAF

Professor of Clinical Surgery
Medical Director, Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Center
University of Illinois at Chicago
Medical Director, Health Care Services Corporation
Chicago, Illinois, USA
959 Oak Drive
Glencoe, IL 60022, USA
E-mail address:
Buchman@uic.edu