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Bowel and mesenteric injuries from blunt abdominal trauma: a review

  • EMERGENCY RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

The bowel and the mesentery represent the third most frequently involved structures in blunt abdominal trauma after the liver and the spleen. Clinical assessment alone in patients with suspected intestinal and/or mesenteric injury from blunt abdominal trauma is associated with unacceptable diagnostic delays. Multi-detector computed tomography, thanks to its high spatial, time and contrast resolutions, allows a prompt identification and proper classification of such conditions. The radiologist, in fact, is asked not only to identify the signs of trauma but also to provide an indication of their clinical significance, suggesting the chance of conservative treatment in the cases of mild and moderate, non-complicated or self-limiting injuries and focusing on life-threatening conditions which may benefit from immediate surgical or interventional procedures. Specific and non-specific CT signs of bowel and mesenteric injuries from blunt abdominal trauma are reviewed in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Pineta Grande Medical Center, Via Domitiana, Km 30, 81100, Castel Volturno, Italy

    Francesco Iaselli & Mariano Scaglione

  2. Diagnostic Imaging Section, Department of Medical, Surgical and Neuro Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Maria Antonietta Mazzei, Domenico D’Elia & Nevada Cioffi Squitieri

  3. Fondazione IRCCS, Dipartimento di Radiologia, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, 20122, Milan, Italy

    Cristina Firetto & Pietro Raimondo Biondetti

  4. Emergency Radiology Section, Department of Bioimaging and Radiological Sciences, Policlinico “A. Gemelli”, Rome, Italy

    Francesco Maria Danza

  5. 118, Corso Umberto I, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Francesco Iaselli

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  1. Francesco Iaselli
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  2. Maria Antonietta Mazzei
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Correspondence to Francesco Iaselli.

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Iaselli, F., Mazzei, M.A., Firetto, C. et al. Bowel and mesenteric injuries from blunt abdominal trauma: a review. Radiol med 120, 21–32 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-014-0487-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-014-0487-8

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