Abstract
Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is one of the most common causes of acute nontraumatic abdominal pain and a frequent cause of hospitalization and surgery. Traditional management for SBO has been surgery owing to previously unreliable clinical features as well as insufficient information from radiographs. However, with recent advances, MDCT has been shown to accurately determine the presence or absence of SBO, identify the site and cause of the obstruction, and detect closed-loop obstructions and strangulations. Today, MDCT has become a powerful tool for the assessment of SBOs, playing an important role in the management of patients with SBOs. In this chapter, the definitions encountered in SBO and imaging modalities for SBO evaluation with an emphasis on MDCT are briefly reviewed. In addition, imaging findings of SBO using an algorithmic approach are provided with representative figures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- CT:
-
Computed tomography
- MDCT:
-
Multidetector-row computed tomography
- SBO:
-
Small bowel obstruction
References
Elsayes KM, Menias CO, Smullen TL, Platt JF. Closed-loop small-bowel obstruction: diagnostic patterns by multidetector computed tomography. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2007;31:697–701.
Filippone A, Cianci R, Grassedonio E, Di Fabio F, Storto ML. Four-section multidetector computed tomographic imaging of bowel obstruction: usefulness of axial and coronal plane combined reading. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2007;31:499–507.
Harlow C, Stears RL, Zeligman B, Archer PG. Diagnosis of bowel obstruction on plain abdominal radiographs: significance of air-fluid levels at different heights in the same loop of bowel. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1993;161:291–5.
Jaffe TA, Martin LC, Thomas J, Adamson AR, DeLong DM, Paulson EK. Small-bowel obstruction: coronal reformations from isotropic voxels at 16-section multi-detector row CT. Radiology. 2006;238:135–42.
Kim JH, Ha HK, Kim JK, Eun HW, Park KB, Kim BS, et al. Usefulness of known computed tomography and clinical criteria for diagnosing strangulation in small-bowel obstruction: analysis of true and false interpretation groups in computed tomography. World J Surg. 2004;28:63–8.
Kohli MD, Maglinte DD. CT enteroclysis in incomplete small bowel obstruction. Abdom Imaging. 2009;34:321–7.
Lazarus DE, Slywotsky C, Bennett GL, Megibow AJ, Macari M. Frequency and relevance of the “small-bowel feces” sign on CT in patients with small-bowel obstruction. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2004;183:1361–6.
Miller G, Boman J, Shrier I, Gordon PH. Etiology of small bowel obstruction. Am J Surg. 2000;180:33–6.
Mullan CP, Siewert B, Eisenberg RL. Small bowel obstruction. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2012;198:W105–17.
Nevitt PC. The string of pearls sign. Radiology. 2000;214:157–8.
Shrake PD, Rex DK, Lappas JC, Maglinte DD. Radiographic evaluation of suspected small bowel obstruction. Am J Gastroenterol. 1991;86:175–8.
Silva AC, Pimenta M, Guimaraes LS. Small bowel obstruction: what to look for. Radiographics. 2009;29:423–39.
Zalcman M, Sy M, Donckier V, Closset J, Gansbeke DV. Helical CT signs in the diagnosis of intestinal ischemia in small-bowel obstruction. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2000;175:1601–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shin, CI. (2015). Small Bowel Obstruction. In: Choi, B. (eds) Radiology Illustrated: Gastrointestinal Tract. Radiology Illustrated. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55412-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55412-4_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-55411-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55412-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)