J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2002 Sep;13(3):373-376.

Small Bowel Volvulus in Adults: A case report

• Ryu JH
• Yang HJ
• Lee G
• Lim YS
• Kim JK
• Ryoo E
• Shin JW
• Oh SW
• Jin W

Abstract

Small bowel volvulus in adults is very rare and occasionally occurs due to congenital midgut malrotation. The most common cause of small bowel volvulus is adhesions (74%), and other causes are Crohn's disease (7%), neoplasia (5%), hernia (2%), radiation (1%), and miscellaneous (11%). Presenting symptoms may be acute or present periodically during a longer period of time with a condition that is intermittent or recurrent because of spontaneous detorsion of the volvulus. Diagnostic imaging studies are plain abdominal film, ultrasonography, abdominal CT, and angiography. Abdominal CT is the most accurate. The most frequent CT finding is "Whirlpool sign." Other findings are bowel-loop dilatation, bowel-wall thickening, beak signs, mesenteric alterations, and extraluminal fluid. The mortality rate associated with small bowel volvulus in adults is 10~67%. We report a case of small bowel volvulus in adults.

Keyword

Small bowel volvulus; Whirlpool sign

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Angiography
Animals
Beak
Crohn Disease
Diagnostic Imaging
Dilatation
Hernia
Humans
Intestinal Volvulus*
Mortality
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Ultrasonography