Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether sonography provides additional clinical information in patients suspected of small bowel (SB) obstruction. During a period of 30 months, in a prospective setting, we evaluated with sonography 123 patients suspected of SB obstruction. Sonographic examinations of the entire abdomen were performed with state-of-the-art, real-time, grey-scale equipment. Fourteen patients were labelled ’gassy' and no added information was provided following abdominal ultrasound. Sonography confirmed the SB obstruction in 82 cases with 5 false positives, resulting in a specificity of 82.1 %. Sonographic examinations were negative in 27 cases with 4 false negatives and a sensitivity of 95 %. The accuracy was 91.7 % when the ’gassy' patients were excluded and 81.3 % overall. The aetiology of the ileus was detected by sonography in 13 cases of paralytic ileus (54.1 %) and in 57 cases of mechanical ileus (71.4 %). It is concluded that ultrasound, which is a non-invasive, portable and even bedside imaging procedure, appears accurate in confirming a SB obstruction and in determining the aetiology of SB obstruction.
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Received: 22 March 1996; Revision received 30 December 1996; Accepted: 2 January 1997
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Schmutz, G., Benko, A., Fournier, L. et al. Small bowel obstruction: role and contribution of sonography. Eur Radiol 7, 1054–1058 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003300050251
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003300050251