Emergency Cases Northwest Group

010 An obstructed view

Situation

An abdominal x-ray was normal but a CT showed SBO

Background

An elderly lady had abdominal discomfort and vomiting, felt like SBO she some years ago. AXR was normal, surgeons reluctant to accept the patient. A CT scan revealed SBO with the bowels filled with liquid.

Assessment

AXR can show SBO if air is in the bowels, in this case the fluid inside the bowels made the x-ray less helpful.

Recommendation

Know that an abnormal AXR can diagnose SBO, but a normal AXR can’t rue it out.

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PATIENT IDENTIFIABLE DATA OR GEO-LOCATION DATA IN THE SUBMISSION OR IN ANY ATTACHED IMAGES

Emergency Cases Northwest Group