Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Aug;204(2):507-12.
doi: 10.1148/radiology.204.2.9240545.

Differentiation of simple and strangulated small-bowel obstructions: usefulness of known CT criteria

H K Ha  1 , J S Kim, M S Lee, H J Lee, Y K Jeong, P N Kim, M G Lee, K W Kim, M Y Kim, Y H Auh
Affiliations

Differentiation of simple and strangulated small-bowel obstructions: usefulness of known CT criteria

H K Ha et al. Radiology. 1997 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of known computed tomographic (CT) criteria for the differentiation of simple and strangulated small-bowel obstructions.

Materials and methods: CT scans of 84 patients with simple (n = 43) and strangulated (n = 41) small-bowel obstructions caused by adhesions, hernia, and volvulus were reviewed retrospectively. Diagnoses were made with surgery (n = 55) and during clinical follow-up (n = 29). CT criteria evaluated were configuration of obstructed bowel loop, target sign, bowel wall thickening and enhancement, changes in mesentery and mesenteric vasculature, and amount and attenuation of ascites.

Results: CT findings that enabled the detection of strangulated obstructions were poor or no enhancement of bowel wall (sensitivity, 34%; specificity, 100%) and a serrated beak (sensitivity, 32%; specificity, 100%). When these two findings were excluded from analysis, a large amount of ascites, an unusual course of mesenteric vasculature, and diffuse engorgement of mesenteric vasculature were shown to be useful CT findings for performing multivariate regression analysis. Application of these five CT findings enabled identification of 35 (85%) of 41 patients with strangulated obstructions.

Conclusion: Detecting a combination of selected, known CT criteria increases the diagnostic accuracy of CT to enable differentiation of simple and strangulated small-bowel obstructions.

PubMed Disclaimer