<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Undifferentiated abdominal pain in adults is a common chief complaint in acute care clinics and emergency departments worldwide, representing up to 10% of visits to emergency departments. Many patients have a non-specific presentation and an initial workup with labwork, urine analysis or X-ray might not reveal a specific diagnosis. Although bowel intussusception is a primarily pediatric disease, adult intussusception is a recognized but rare cause of bowel obstruction often requiring surgical intervention. However, recent data from advanced multi-detector computed tomography imaging shows that milder or recurring cases in adults have been underrecognized. Multi-detector computed tomography is still the imaging gold standard for detecting intussusception in adults, but new data showed that sonographers with basic training using the point-of-care ultrasound approach have a reasonable accuracy in detecting this pathology. As the point-of-care ultrasound for undifferentiated abdominal pain is an emerging core skill in the acute care setting, knowledge of sonographic signs of intestinal intussusception should be included in the skill set of physicians. Sonographic findings in adults mimic pediatric cases, but different location patterns and higher malignancy rates exist in adults. In this manuscript, we will review the current literature on adult intussusception and summarize key knowledge of intestinal intussusception in adults. We will present four adult patients diagnosed with different types of adult acute bowel intussusception using the point-of-care ultrasound and describe a focused scanning approach with typical sonographic findings.</p>
</abstract>

Undifferentiated abdominal pain in adults is a common chief complaint in acute care clinics and emergency departments worldwide, representing up to 10% of visits to emergency departments. Many patients have a non-specific presentation and an initial workup with labwork, urine analysis or X-ray might not reveal a specific diagnosis. Although bowel intussusception is a primarily pediatric disease, adult intussusception is a recognized but rare cause of bowel obstruction often requiring surgical intervention. However, recent data from advanced multi-detector computed tomography imaging shows that milder or recurring cases in adults have been underrecognized. Multi-detector computed tomography is still the imaging gold standard for detecting intussusception in adults, but new data showed that sonographers with basic training using the point-of-care ultrasound approach have a reasonable accuracy in detecting this pathology. As the point-of-care ultrasound for undifferentiated abdominal pain is an emerging core skill in the acute care setting, knowledge of sonographic signs of intestinal intussusception should be included in the skill set of physicians. Sonographic findings in adults mimic pediatric cases, but different location patterns and higher malignancy rates exist in adults. In this manuscript, we will review the current literature on adult intussusception and summarize key knowledge of intestinal intussusception in adults. We will present four adult patients diagnosed with different types of adult acute bowel intussusception using the point-of-care ultrasound and describe a focused scanning approach with typical sonographic findings.

A brief review of diagnostic properties of point-of-care ultrasound for adult bowel intussusception: Making the case for ultrasound

Journal of Ultrasonography

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Undifferentiated abdominal pain in adults is a common chief complaint in acute care clinics and emergency departments worldwide, representing up to 10% of...

A brief review of diagnostic properties of point-of-care ultrasound for adult bowel intussusception: Making the case for ultrasound

Article Category: Review paper

Published Online: May 11, 2023

Page range: e90 - e96

Received: Sep 06, 2022

Accepted: Jan 30, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15557/jou.2023.0016

Keywords
ultrasonography, adult, intussusception, acute abdominal pain, point-of-care ultrasound

© 2023 David G. Tempel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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A brief review of diagnostic properties of point-of-care ultrasound for adult bowel intussusception: Making the case for ultrasound

Article Category: Review paper

Published Online: May 11, 2023

Page range: e90 - e96

Received: Sep 06, 2022

Accepted: Jan 30, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15557/jou.2023.0016

Keywordsultrasonography, adult, intussusception, acute abdominal pain, point-of-care ultrasound

© 2023 David G. Tempel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Keywords
ultrasonography, adult, intussusception, acute abdominal pain, point-of-care ultrasound