title: Color Doppler twinkling artifacts in small-bowel bezoars.
abstract: Small-bowel bezoars usually form in the stomach and may subsequently cause small-bowel obstruction. Bezoars associated with small-bowel obstruction have been accurately diagnosed by computed tomography, although some case reports have described the specific sonographic findings of small-bowel bezoars. Bezoars can be overlooked by sonographic examination if a dilated small-bowel loop contains a large amount of air. Twinkling artifacts on color Doppler images appear as rapidly fluctuating red and blue signals behind certain strongly reflecting structures. In this series, we hypothesize that twinkling artifacts might appear in small-bowel bezoars, and we describe the presence of twinkling artifacts in 3 cases of small-bowel bezoars presenting as small-bowel obstruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. khcppp@lycos.co.kr
authors.forename: Hyun Cheol
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dal Mo
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Sang Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jung Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ryu
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D001630:Bezoars / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color