Gastroenterologist Mark Mattar, MD, performs a beside intestinal ultrasound to look for inflammatory bowel disease in a patient at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
March 31, 2025 — MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is the first hospital in the Washington, D.C. region to offer bedside intestinal ultrasound (IUS) to monitor inflammation in IBD patients. To assess chronic inflammatory diseases of the intestines, like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, patients are traditionally monitored with blood tests, stool studies, MRI or CT scans, and colonoscopies. Those kinds of tests can require bowel preparation, sedation, anesthesia, and radiation.
Bedside ultrasound is a safe and cost-effective way to immediately visualize and examine inflammation in the intestines in real time, without any preparation. Gastroenterologists throughout other parts of the world have been using ultrasound as an imaging technique for patients with IBD for over a decade. International experience and studies show that patients and providers believe IUS screenings help them:
- Learn more about the disease
- Understand where symptoms come from
- Make an informed decision about managing their IBD
"We are proud to be the first hospital in the Washington, D.C. region to offer IUS for IBD patients." said Mark Mattar, MD, director of the IBD Center at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. "This new technology allows us to get answers right away, without any radiation involved. Since patients are not sedated, they continue to play an instrumental role in this real-time assessment tool of their disease."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) across the U.S. is estimated between 2.4 and 3.1 million.
For more information, visit MedStarHealth.org/GIExperts.
April 16, 2025 
