J Korean Soc Coloproctol.
1998 Sep;14(3):585-594.
Abdominal CT Scanning in Adult Intussusception
Abstract
- Intussusception is a relatively common disease in children, but it is a rare clinical entity in adults. More than 80% of all patients with intussusception are less than two years of age, but adults account for only 5 to 10 percent of all intussusception cases. The significance of this disease in the aspect of statistics is mentioned as "rule of fives", which means 5% of all intussusceptions occur in adults, and it accounts for up to 5% of all cases of bowel obstruction in adults. In children, classic symptoms include episodic abdominal pain, "current-jelly" stool and a sausage-shaped abdominal mass on examination. However, in adults, it is likely to appear with non-specific gastrointestinal trouble without classic symptoms. Therefore, it is very important to use early diagnositic tool. In contrast to childhood intussusception, which is idiopathic in 90% of cases, adult intussusception has a definable lesion in more than 90% of cases 3). Tumors, both benign and malignant, are the most frequent cause of intussusecption in adults. We experienced seven cases of adult intussusception at Inha hospital from Jan. 1994 to Dec. 1997. The patients of adult intussusception are classified as three cases of ileoileal type and four ileocecal type. There were no specific signs or symptoms with patient experienced. It included abdominal pain, diarrhea and palpable mass. Their diagnosis was made in six patients using abdominal CT scan. It is difficult to define a diagnosis preoperatively, because the symptom of adult intussusception are variable and insignificant among individuals. We had been taken the final diagnostic tool with the abdominal CT scan in six of seven patients, which revealed "target lesions" in all cases. So, it is useful in the diagnosis of adult intussusception. Bowels were resected for the treatment of adult intussusception. The extent of the resection was contained the lesion and the defunctioned segments. The operations were performed as four segmental resections of small bowel and three ileocecal resections. The pathological findings were disclosed as three tumors, three lymphadenopathies and a adhesion of bowel. We concluded that the abdominal CT scanning is a usefull diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of adult intussusception.
