Surgical treatment of small bowel disease requires the use of relatively few surgical techniques, and most are applicable to any segment of the jejunum and ileum. These techniques include enterotomy for removal of polyps or foreign bodies; enteroplasty for treatment…
Small bowel abnormalities continue to be a significant diagnostic challenge for clinicians and radiologists. Clinicians have historically struggled to diagnose many small bowel diseases because patients typically present with only nonspecific complaints such as abdominal pain, weight loss, or anemia.…
In patients with known or suspected small bowel obstruction (SBO), the radiologist is called on to answer the following questions: Is the bowel obstructed? If so, what is the level of obstruction? What is the cause of obstruction? What is…
Primary small bowel malignancy accounts for 0.6% of all new cancer cases, and 0.2% of cancer deaths in the United States. Despite the low incidence relative to other malignancies, the incidence of small bowel malignancy has been increasing from 1.1…
Clinical Considerations Despite a wide variety of histologic types, benign and malignant tumors of the small bowel constitute only 1% to 5% of all gastrointestinal (GI) neoplasms. , Nearly 75% of small bowel tumors discovered at autopsy are benign, while…
Anatomic Classification of Malabsorption Carbohydrate digestion requires a functioning pancreas and small bowel brush border enzymes. Normal protein digestion requires adequate gastric and pancreatic function and small bowel brush border enzymes. Fat digestion requires normal hepatic, biliary, exocrine, pancreatic, and…
The radiologist usually encounters infectious disease of the small intestine during the workup of patients with acute abdominal pain or diarrhea or with chronic diarrhea, malabsorption, and weight loss. If computed tomography (CT) reveals thickened ileal folds or regional mesenteric…
Clinical Considerations Crohn’s disease is an idiopathic inflammatory disease that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract from the mouth to the anus. Patients with this disease have a genetic predilection to an abnormal immunologic response to environmental…
Small bowel radiology has undergone dramatic changes in the past two decades. Despite recent advances in small bowel endoscopy and video capsule technology, radiologic imaging remains an important means of evaluating patients with suspected or established small bowel disease. Cross-sectional…
Computed Tomography Enterography: How It Differs From Routine Abdominal Computed Tomography Computed tomography enterography (CTE) reflects individualization of the abdominal pelvic CT technique for patients with small bowel disorders. CTE provides visualization of the small bowel lumen, wall, and perienteric…