Abdominal Imaging

Abstract

There are fundamental differences in how physicians belonging to the different specialties involved in decision making concerning the “acute abdomen” look at abdominal imaging. The radiologists’ sharp eyes see “everything,” but they tend to see “too much” and do not always understand the clinical significance of what they see. Emergency room (ER) physicians do not see much and do not understand the meaning of the little they do see; all they care about is where to dump the patient. This leaves us with ourselves, the surgeons. Armed with a better understanding of the natural history of the disease processes and able to correlate radiological imaging with previous operative observations, we should be the finest interpreters of abdominal imaging. We have already discussed (• Chap. 4) the role of abdominal imaging in the evaluation of the patient with an acute abdomen. In this chapter, we will try to provide you with practical tips on how to look at the images and what to look for.