CT findings of mesenteric injury after blunt trauma: implications for surgical intervention.

Abstract

The CT finding of mesenteric bleeding or bowel wall thickening associated with mesenteric hematoma or infiltration in the blunt trauma patient indicates a high likelihood of a mesenteric or bowel injury requiring surgery. The finding of focal mesenteric hematoma or infiltration without adjacent bowel wall thickening is nonspecific and can occur both in mesenteric or bowel lesions that require surgery and those that do not.