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The imaging of intussusception
A T Byrne1, T Geoghegan, T Goeghegan
1Adelaide and Meath Incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. angelabyrenx@hotmail.com
Insights
Intussusception, or telescoping of the bowel, is common in children but rare in adults. Imaging plays a key role in diagnosing this condition, especially in adults where a lead point is often found.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Radiology
- Pediatric Surgery
Background:
- Intussusception is the telescoping of one gastrointestinal segment into another.
- It is a common cause of acute abdomen in children but less frequent in adults, often presenting unexpectedly.
- Adult intussusception frequently involves an underlying lead point, unlike in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the imaging features of bowel intussusception.
- To highlight diagnostic roles of various imaging modalities.
- To emphasize emerging technologies in intussusception diagnosis.
Main Methods:
- Review of imaging features across multiple modalities.
- Discussion of plain film radiography, barium studies, and ultrasound.
- Inclusion of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.
Main Results:
- Imaging is crucial for diagnosing intussusception in both children and adults.
- CT and MRI are increasingly utilized, particularly for adult cases.
- Emerging MRI techniques offer advanced diagnostic capabilities.
Conclusions:
- Imaging modalities are essential for diagnosing and managing intussusception.
- Adult intussusception requires careful evaluation for underlying causes.
- Advanced imaging techniques like ultrafast MRI enhance diagnostic accuracy.
Abstract:
Intussusception is defined as the telescoping of one segment of the gastrointestinal tract into an adjacent one. It is relatively common in children and is the second most common cause of an acute abdomen in this age group. It is much less common in adults and accounts for less than 5% of cases of mechanical small bowel obstruction. Whereas the diagnosis is usually already suspected in children before imaging, it is often made unexpectedly in adults. In addition, although in children there is usually no specific underlying cause, an underlying lead point is often present in adults. Plain film radiography, barium studies and ultrasound imaging play major roles in both the diagnosis and management of this condition, and it is increasingly common for the diagnosis to be made by CT and MRI, particularly in adults. This pictorial essay reviews the imaging features that may be found in patients with bowel intussusception. As well as describing the imaging features of the more commonly used tests, we also stress the role of emerging technologies such as MRI using ultrafast half-fourier sequences with single shot turbo spin echo.
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