Abdominal wall disorders are frequently encountered in clinical practice, and may be associated with significant morbidity. Most abdominal wall or groin hernias can be easily diagnosed by inspection and palpation. In these cases, radiologic examinations are useful for preoperative demonstration…
Introduction Ascites is the pathologic accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity. It is a common finding that can be associated with a large number of diseases. Imaging plays an important role in detecting and characterizing ascites. Although ascites may…
Traditionally, the abdominal cavity has been divided into a number of peritoneal, retroperitoneal, and extraperitoneal spaces. Although it is useful for learning abdominal anatomy and appreciating the confinement of disease in a particular space, this classic approach affords limited understanding…
Pancreatic Trauma Traumatic injury to the pancreas is rare and difficult to diagnose. The retroperitoneal location of the pancreas is a mixed anatomic blessing in patients with abdominal trauma. Its fixed position anterior to the vertebral column provides excellent protection…
Hepatic Trauma CLASSIFICATION OF HEPATIC TRAUMA The management of hepatic trauma patients has evolved significantly during the last three decades and is now based on well-defined treatment algorithms. This has highlighted the need for an accurate classification system as a…
The liver has a unique, dual blood supply in which 25% of the flow comes from the hepatic artery and 75% through the portal vein. There is an inverse relationship between these two blood supplies. If portal flow decreases, arterial…
The liver has quite accurately been called the custodian of the milieu intérieur, and is vulnerable to a variety of metabolic, vascular, toxic, infectious, and neoplastic insults. Diffuse liver disease can be diagnostically challenging because of nonspecific and overlapping clinical…
Colonic Obstruction Mechanical large bowel obstruction is four to five times less common than small bowel obstruction and differs significantly in terms of cause ( Table 46.1 ), pathophysiology, therapy, and prognosis. Colon obstruction is most often the result of…
Infectious and inflammatory disorders of the colon are common and do not require imaging in most cases. In some disorders, imaging has a role in establishing the diagnosis, assessing the severity of the process, monitoring the course of the disease,…
The term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses two forms of chronic, idiopathic intestinal inflammation, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Although many other inflammatory diseases affect the gut, most are distinguished by a specific identifiable causative agent or process or by…