Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Emergency, Abdomen, CT, Contrast agent-intravenous, Obstruction / Occlusion
Authors:
A. B. Barba Arce1, E. herrera romero2, F. Pozo Piñon2, V. Fernandez-Lobo3, E. Montes Figueroa3, Y. Lamprecht3, E. Marín Diez3, P. Gallego Ferrero3, C. González-Carrero Sixto3; 1Torrelavega, Cantabria/ES, 2Santander, Cantabria/ES, 3Santander/ES
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-0626
Background
Intestinal obstruction is a common pathology in medical emergencies.
7% of patients with abdominal pain have an obstructive condition,
constituting up to 20% of the surgical abdomens.
Intestinal obstruction is the stopping of passage of the intestinal contents at some point along the digestive tract,
secondary to a mechanical cause that prevents the progression of the intestinal contents.
We must differentiate from the ileus,
that is a failure of normal intestinal motility in the absence of mechanical obstruction.
This phenomenon is common after abdominal surgery. Fig. 1, Fig. 2
The most common radiological diagnostic techniques used in the diagnosis of intestinal obstruction are the simple abdominal X-ray and the abdominopelvic CT.
It's important to know the most important semiologic findings of bowel obstruction in CT,
as well as its main etiological causes.
The main causes in the small bowel are hernias (extrinsic lesions),
tumors (intrinsic lesion) and intraluminal causes.
While in the large bowel the most frequent etiologies are neoplastic,
acute diverticulitis and volvulus.
The main complications are ischemia and intestinal perforation.