Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Safety, Diagnostic procedure, MR, CT, Abdomen, Genital / Reproductive system female, Emergency, Acute
Authors:
K. Matsunari1, S. Funaki1, M. Tanisaka1, N. Sunaoshi1, K. Watanabe2, H. Fujisawa1, T. Kushihashi2; 1Kanagawa/JP, 2Yokohama/JP
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2013/C-1213
Background
Acute abdomen during pregnancy can be caused by a wide variety of diseases(fig.1).
Fig. 1: Causes of Abdominal Pain in Pregnant Women
References: Coutney AW et al: Abdominal pain in pregnancy:AJR 194:WS14-30,2010
Some of which require urgent surgical treatments,
so early and accurate diagnosis should be needed.
In some cases,
US imagings may be useful in diagnosis,
however MRI and/or CT may be more useful in many cases.
The clinical diagnosis of intraabdominal disease in pregnant women is often obscured by concurrent maternal physiologic and anatomic changes.
We have to know accurate normal anatomy and precise diagnostic imagings of eath disorders.
Some causes are unique to pregnancy,
are exacerbated by pregnancy,
or require an altered imaging algorithm for diagnosis in patients during pregnancy.
A delay in the diagnosis of acute abdomen can be threatening of life in both the mother and the fetus.
Diagnostic imagings that takes into account the influence of the mother and fetus is required to decide treatment plan .
It is necessary to select the imaging procedure that takes into account the impact on the fetus due to exposure and use a contrast agent.