The aim of this retrospective study was to emphasize the performances of spiral CT (HCT) and multidetector-row CT (MDCT) as very effective imaging modalities for the diagnosis of intestinal perforations caused by calcified alimentary foreign bodies. Eight sites of perforations of the ileum by ingested foreign bodies were found in seven patients--one patient presenting with two separate sites of perforation. The diagnosis was successfully made by HCT in four patients and MDCT in the remaining three. Involuntarily and generally unconsciously ingested chicken and fish bones were the implicated calcified foreign bodies. The acute clinical presentations were nonspecific, mimicking more common acute abdominal conditions. A thickened intestinal segment (7/8 sites) with localized pneumoperitoneum (4/8 sites), surrounded by fatty infiltration (4/8 sites) and associated with already present or developing obstruction or sub-obstruction (5/7 patients) were the most common CT signs, but the definite diagnosis was clearly made by the identification of the calcified foreign bodies (7/7 patients). In each patient, this identification was only possible thanks to the scrupulous analysis of very thin overlapping reconstructions obtained not only in the perforation sites (6/8 sites), but also through the entire abdomen (2/8 sites). Our report emphasizes the high performances of CTA and MDCT in identifying intestinal perforation caused by calcified alimentary foreign bodies. Moreover, the high specificity of the CT diagnosis made it possible to avoid surgerical exploration in three patients.
Mesenteric panniculitis is an uncommon benign inflammatory condition of unknown etiology that involves the adipose tissue of the mesentery and for which an extremely varied terminology has been used, causing considerable confusion. It can be evaluated as a single disease with two pathological subgroups: Mesenteric Panniculitis (MP), representing the very large major subgroup where inflammation and fat necrosis predominate and Retractile Mesenteritis (RM), much rarely found, where fibrosis and retraction predominate. In histo-pathological terms the preferred terminology is sclerosing mesenteritis. We hereby extensively illustrate the characteristic MDCT findings of MP through pictures selected among a collection of cases constituted over a 5-year period. All patients were scanned with 64-row MDCT equipment. We also review the literature and discuss the differential diagnosis. The radiological diagnosis of MP was based on classical CT signs described in the literature and comprising: the presence of a well-defined "mass effect" on neighbouring structures (sign 1) constituted by mesenteric fat tissue of inhomogeneous higher attenuation than adjacent retroperitoneal or mesocolonic fat (sign 2) and containing small soft tissue nodes (sign 3). It may typically be surrounded by a hypoattenuated fatty "halo sign" (sign 4) and an hyperattenuating pseudocapsule may also surround the all entity (sign 5). The last two signs are considered inconstant but very specific. The absence of histological verification constitutes the weakness of our study. The differential diagnosis of MP is extensive and includes all disorders that can affect the mesentery. The most common ones are lymphoma, well-differentiated liposarcoma, peritoneal carcinomatosis, carcinoid tumor, retroperitoneal fibrosis, lipoma, mesenteric desmoid tumor, mesenteric inflammatory pseudotumor, mesenteric fibromatosis and mesenteric edema. PET/CT is proved useful to correctly exclude mesenteric tumoral involvement in patients presenting with typical MP. The course of MP is favorable in most cases and progression of MP to retractile mesenteritis not only appears very being rare but finally remains doubtful.
In contrast with their colonic equivalents, noncolonic diverticula of the gastro-intestinal tract are much rarer and an uncommon site of inflammation. Symptoms and signs are generally nonspecific and before the advent and development of CT, clinical and radiological diagnosis was very difficult. As a result laparotomy was carried out in most cases without correct preoperative diagnosis. We report three rare cases of noncolonic diverticulitis, respectively, affecting the duodenum, the jejunum, and the distal ileum. MDCT with multiplanar reconstructions revealed unambiguously diagnostic features in the three cases and allowed minimally invasive endoscopic drainage in the duodenal case and successful conservative medical treatment in the jejunal and ileal cases. We discuss and review the prevalence, physiopathology, symptoms, and complications of diverticula of the duodenum and jejuno-ileum and emphasis on the high performance of MDCT for the diagnosis of acute diverticular complications.
Segmental omental infarction (SOI) is an uncommon cause of right lower quadrant pain in children that is often misdiagnosed as appendicitis. During the last decade, imaging findings of SOI have proved to be sufficiently typical to avoid unnecessary surgery in the majority of reported adult patients. The condition has a spontaneous favourable evolution under medical treatment. In children the surgical option remains controversial. We report a typical case of SOI in a 10-year-old boy. The diagnosis was suspected by sonography, unambiguously confirmed by multidetector CT and successfully treated conservatively. This report emphasizes the use of CT in selected acute abdominal situations, peculiarly in obese children, to avoid unnecessary surgery.
Dissection of the cervical segment of the internal carotid artery may occur spontaneously or after trauma. We report the management of a 53-year-old right-handed man with progressive dizziness and neck pain 6 weeks after a motor vehicle collision. The clinical and neurologic examinations were normal. The CT scan led to the diagnosis of a pseudoaneurysm of the right internal carotid artery near the skull base. We successfully treated this post-traumatic lesion with a covered stent. The patient underwent the endovascular procedure under general anesthesia and transcranial Doppler monitoring. No neurologic event was observed. Obliteration of the pseudoaneurysm with preservation of the carotid artery was achieved. The patient was discharged from the hospital 72 hr later with no complications. Clinical and imaging follow-up at 6 months was unremarkable.
We report a case of acute appendicitis occurring within a right inguinal hernia-also known as Amyand's hernia-in a 59-year-old man. The correct diagnosis was made via preoperative inguinal sonography and was confirmed via CT, allowing prompt appropriate surgical management.
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