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Sonographic assessment of inflammatory bowel disease in the emergency department: A case series and review of the literature
Author(s) -
Esterson Akiva,
Alpert Evan Avraham,
Gabrieli Selma,
Granat Nadav
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.22946
Subject(s) - medicine , inflammatory bowel disease , abscess , radiology , ultrasonography , emergency department , color doppler , disease , surgery , psychiatry
The use of sonography for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported in the radiology literature but is not common practice in the hands of emergency physicians (EPs). We present a series of three cases where IBD was managed by an EP using point‐of‐care ultrasonography (POCUS), and discuss the sonographic features of IBD including bowel wall thickening, increased blood flow on color Doppler, infiltration of surrounding fatty tissue, and presence of intraperitoneal fluid. Complications such as bowel strictures and peri‐colic abscess are also described. We suggest that the use of POCUS for the assessment of IBD patients in the ED may expedite both diagnosis and treatment, as well as minimize the use of additional imaging.