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Bowel and Mesenteric Injury

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Diagnostic Imaging in Polytrauma Patients

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Abstract

Bowel and mesenteric injuries from blunt abdominal trauma are uncommon and difficult to diagnose. The clinical signs and symptoms of these injuries are subtle and not specific, and they may be delayed in presentation. Due to major advancements in technology, multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) has become the diagnostic modality of choice in the evaluation of blunt abdominal trauma in hemodynamically stable patents. MDCT easily identifies injuries to solid organs and in the recent past years has been considered a sensitive tool in the detection of bowel and mesenteric lesions.

Radiologist involved in trauma care should be familiar with the various imaging features of blunt bowel and mesenteric injury and aware of their clinical relevance. The goal of the radiologist is to make a timely diagnosis, distinguishing major injuries, represented by bowel perforation, active mesenteric bleeding, and mesenteric injury with bowel ischemia, which require an operative treatment from minor injuries, which can be managed conservatively.

In this chapter specific and not specific CT signs of intestinal and mesenteric injuries from blunt abdominal trauma are illustrated and their prognostic significance is discussed. Examples of some pitfalls that may lead to misinterpretation of CT findings are also provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Radiology, S. Camillo Hospital, C.ne Gianicolense, 87, 00152, Rome, Italy

    Viola Valentini M.D., Grazia Loretta Buquicchio, Michele Galluzzo, Stefania Ianniello & Margherita Trinci

  2. Department of Radiology, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Ginevra Danti & Vittorio Miele

Authors
  1. Viola Valentini M.D.
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  2. Grazia Loretta Buquicchio
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  3. Ginevra Danti
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  4. Michele Galluzzo
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  5. Stefania Ianniello
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  6. Margherita Trinci
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  7. Vittorio Miele
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Correspondence to Viola Valentini M.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Vittorio Miele

  2. Dept of Emergency Radiology, S. Camillo Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Margherita Trinci

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Valentini, V. et al. (2018). Bowel and Mesenteric Injury. In: Miele, V., Trinci, M. (eds) Diagnostic Imaging in Polytrauma Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62054-1_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62054-1_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62053-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62054-1

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