CT diagnosis of diseases manifested by thickening of the colon wall

Thickening of the wall of the colon (TC) is one of the easily detectable and common symptoms of TC diseases detected by computed tomography (CT). The aim of the study was to reveal the possibilities of standard abdominal CT in the diagnosis of TC disease. To achieve this goal, 359 CT of the abdominal cavity performed according to the standard Protocol were analyzed. The average age of patients was 64.1+15.8 years. Gender ratio: prevalence of male patients 1,3:1,0. The normal thickness of the wall of the colon depends on the degree of expansion of the lumen or stretching and in most cases is changeable. The thickening of the TC wall was considered to be a persistent mismatch of its thickness to the inner lumen or outer diameter, taking into account the extreme values of the norms according to the literature data from 2 to 10 mm. The Analyzed cases of thickening of the TC wall were divided into 3 groups: focal (53%), segmental (30%) or diffuse thickening (17%). Wall thickening defined in nonspecific inflammatory diseases (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, undifferentiated, pseudomebranous and ischemic colitis) often had segmental (12%) or diffuse (16%) length, with a minimum in the group of focal thickening - 1% in Crohn’s disease. The authors determined a significant difference in the length of TC wall thickening in benign and malignant processes (p<0.05). The probability of diagnosis of TC cancer significantly increases with a decrease in the length of the determined thickening of the TC wall to the focal, with an inverse relationship with an increase and a high probability of inflammatory disease (p<0.01). Thus, the symptom of thickening of the wall of the TC is a marker symptom of diseases of the TC. In our study, the thickening of the TC wall was found in both malignant and benign diseases, with the prevalence of the latter, and a large proportion of inflammatory diseases in them (p<0.05). In the group of focal thickenings, the leader, not taking into account diverticulitis due to easily recognizable signs of this disease, was TC cancer, which indicates in favor of the high specificity of the sign (p<0.01). However, the analysis of additional features was crucial in the differential diagnosis of TC pathology: the type and nature of contrast enhancement, changes in mesentery, fiber and adjacent vessels.