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open license. Please read the
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Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Abdomen, Emergency, Management, CT, CT-High Resolution, Diagnostic procedure, Education, Surgery, Inflammation, Acute, Ischaemia / Infarction
Authors:
J. Ninčević, D. Marjan; zagreb/HR
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2016/C-0884
Background
Most acute inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract,
including infectious and non-infectious,
are centered in the bowel wall and for these diseases the degree of bowel wall thickening exceeds the degree of associated fat stranding (Fig.
1).
In some acute diseases of the gastrointestinal tract,
the pathologic process is centered in the mesentery adjacent to the bowel wall,
therefore fat stranding is often more accentuated than the degree of wall thickening (Fig.
2).
List of diseases that typically manifest disproportionate fat stranding is short – diverticulitis,
epiploic appendagitis,
omental infarction and appendicitis.
Hence,
accentuated fat stranding is a helpful diagnostic sign in narrowing an otherwise broad differential diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.
Correct non invasive diagnosis is important because some diseases,
as epiploic appendagitis or omental infarction,
are self-limited conditions,
whereas other conditions require drugs or surgery [1].