title: Ultrasound examination of gastrointestinal tract diseases.
abstract: With recent technical advances, increasing use of sonography in the initial evaluation of patients with abdominal disease may allow the detection of unexpected tumor within the abdominal cavity. Easiness of sonographic detection of bowel pathology, purposely or unexpectedly, warrants the inclusion of bowel loops during ultrasound examination when a patient complains of symptoms indicating diseases of the bowel. In patients complaining of acute abdominal symptoms or nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms and showing signs such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, hematochezia, change of bowel habit, or bowel obstruction, sonography may reveal the primary causes and may play a definitive role in making a diagnosis. On ultrasonography, abnormal lesions may appear as fungating mass with eccentrically located bowel lumen (pseudokidney sign) or symmetrical or asymmetrical, encircling thickening of the colonic wall (target sign). In patients with mass or wall thickening detected on ultrasonography, additional work-up such as barium study, CT or endoscopy would be occasionally necessary for making a specific diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jhlim@smc.samsung.co.kr
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000368:Aged; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004238:Diverticulitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007422:Intestines / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D013270:Stomach / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation