New Insight for the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease

Table 1

Advantages, limitations, future developments and recommendations for the use of each technique.

Techniques	Advantages	Limitations	Future developments	Recommendations
CT scan	Easily available; Noninvasive	Lack of specificity; Irradiant; Nephrotoxic	Not planned	Eventually
MRI	Nonirradiant; Noninvasive	Lack of specificity; Expensive; Hardly available	Not planned	Not recommended
US	Noninvasive; Easily available; Cheap	Lack of specificity	Not planned	Not recommended
CEUS	Sensitive; Specific; Noninvasive	Limited to lower GI acute GVHD; Specific device; Trained physician	Prospective studies	Not available in routine
PET/CT	Sensitive; Specific; Early detection; Noninvasive	Expensive; Irradiant	Prospective studies	Useful in some patients
WCE	Noninvasive; Sensitive	Bowel preparation; Lack of specificity	Prospective studies	Useful in some patients
eCLE and pCLE	Sensitive; Specific; Early detection	Invasive; Specific device; Trained physician	Prospective studies	Not available in routine

CT scan: computed tomography scan; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; US: ultrasonography; CEUS: contrast-enhanced ultrasound; GI acute GVHD: gastrointestinal acute graft-versus-host disease; WCE: wireless video-capsule endoscopy; eCLE: endoscope-based confocal laser endomicroscopy; pCLE: probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy.