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Blunt Injury of the Bowel and Mesentery

  • Emergency Radiology (J Yu, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Although not common, blunt bowel and mesenteric trauma requires prompt identification and intervention to avoid significant morbidity and mortality.

Recent Findings

Developments in MDCT technology especially with 64 and higher slice MDCT have improved image quality for better detection and depiction of bowel and mesenteric injury. Recent reports indicate that administration of oral contrast does not increase diagnostic accuracy, allowing for more rapid door to scan time. Dual-source CT (DS-CT) ability to generate iodine maps and virtual noncontrast images has the potential to increase conspicuity of bowel perfusion abnormalities, better distinguish hypo-perfused from nonperfused bowel, and reveal bowel wall hematoma obscured by mural enhancement.

Summary

This article will review the current state-of-the-art approach in using direct and indirect MDCT signs of bowel injury in an attempt to differentiate surgical from nonsurgical lesions, and discuss imaging protocols used at our institution for follow-up imaging in nonsurgical lesions. We will also demonstrate the potential utility of DS-CT in blunt bowel injury.

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Funding

Uttam K. Bodanapally reports personal fees from Siemens Medial Solutions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Matthew Dattwyler, Uttam K. Bodanapally & Kathirkamanathan Shanmuganathan

  2. Department of Radiology, University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Kathirkamanathan Shanmuganathan

Authors
  1. Matthew Dattwyler
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  2. Uttam K. Bodanapally
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  3. Kathirkamanathan Shanmuganathan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathirkamanathan Shanmuganathan.

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Conflict of interest

Matthew Dattwyler and Kathirkamanathan Shanmuganathan each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical collection on Emergency Radiology.

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Dattwyler, M., Bodanapally, U.K. & Shanmuganathan, K. Blunt Injury of the Bowel and Mesentery. Curr Radiol Rep 6, 17 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40134-018-0276-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40134-018-0276-6

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