1. Intestinal pneumatosis: differential diagnosis
- Author
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Federica Romano, Roberta Lieto, Giulia Lassandro, Stefano Giusto Picchi, Francesco Lassandro, Giacomo Sica, Giorgio Bocchini, and Salvatore Guarino
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Urology ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Computed tomography ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,Diagnosis, Differential ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,Pneumatosis Cystoides Intestinalis ,medicine ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Pathological ,Chemotherapy ,Radiological and Ultrasound Technology ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Gastroenterology ,Hepatology ,medicine.disease ,Intestines ,Radiography ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Radiological weapon ,Mesenteric Ischemia ,Necrotizing enterocolitis ,Radiology ,Differential diagnosis ,business ,Tomography, X-Ray Computed - Abstract
Intestinal pneumatosis (IP) is an infrequent radiological sign defined as pathological gas infiltration into the bowel wall. It may be associated to different underlying clinical conditions-inflammatory bowel diseases, malignancies, chemotherapy, infections, immune deficiency status, trauma, intestinal ischemia, and necrosis-that are often related to emergency state and require a prompt diagnosis. All the imaging techniques, especially abdominal radiography and Computed Tomography, could detect the presence of IP and discern the forms related to emergency conditions. The differential diagnosis is essential to start an immediate clinical or surgical management and treatment. The aim of this article is to review the radiological features of IP in different illnesses, with particular attention to differential diagnosis.
- Published
- 2020