eMedicine Specialties > Radiology > Gastrointestinal

Bowel, Trauma: Follow-up

Author: Raul N Uppot, MD, Instructor in Radiology, Harvard Medical School;, Assistant Radiologist, Department of Radiology, Section of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Coauthor(s): John S Wills, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University; Chair, Department of Radiology, Pennsylvania Hospital; Vinay K Gheyi, MD, MBBS, Radiologist, Christiana Care Health System
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: May 27, 2009

Intervention

Vascular intervention includes embolization of bleeding mesenteric vessels.

Medicolegal Pitfalls

  • Delay in the diagnosis and management of a bowel injury can result in significant morbidity and mortality to the patient and can lead to medicolegal pitfalls.8,23
    • Potential morbidity to the patient includes peritonitis, bowel ischemia, and death.
    • Although in a few cases initial diagnostic imaging may not show evidence of bowel trauma, close clinical follow-up in patients with the appropriate mechanism of injury is recommended. Typically, if an occult bowel injury is present that was not seen on the initial CT can, a follow-up CT can in 12, 24, and 48 hours is recommended to reassess evidence of bowel injury.
 


More on Bowel, Trauma

Overview: Bowel, Trauma
Imaging: Bowel, Trauma
Follow-up: Bowel, Trauma
Multimedia: Bowel, Trauma
References
Further Reading
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References

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Raul N Uppot, MD, Instructor in Radiology, Harvard Medical School;, Assistant Radiologist, Department of Radiology, Section of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Raul N Uppot, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

John S Wills, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University; Chair, Department of Radiology, Pennsylvania Hospital
John S Wills, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Radiology, American Medical Association, Medical Society of Delaware, and Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Vinay K Gheyi, MD, MBBS, Radiologist, Christiana Care Health System
Vinay K Gheyi, MD, MBBS is a member of the following medical societies: Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Medical Editor

Neela Lamki, MD, Professor, Department of Radiology, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; Adjunct Professor, Department of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Pharmacy Editor

Bernard D Coombs, MB, ChB, PhD, Consulting Staff, Department of Specialist Rehabilitation Services, Hutt Valley District Health Board, New Zealand
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Managing Editor

Spencer B Gay, MD, Professor of Radiology, Director of Body Computed Tomography, Department of Radiology, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

Robert M Krasny, MD, Consulting Staff, Department of Radiology, Resolution Imaging Medical Corporation
Robert M Krasny, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Roentgen Ray Society and Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Eugene C Lin, MD, Consulting Radiologist, Virginia Mason Medical Center; Clinical Assistant Professor of Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine
Eugene C Lin, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Nuclear Medicine, American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America, and Society of Nuclear Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

 
 
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