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

The purposes of this study were to determine the spectrum of CT findings of mesenteric injury, to compare CT findings of mesenteric injury with surgical observations, and to assess the potential of CT to predict which patients with mesenteric injury require laparotomy.Blunt trauma patients admitted to our facility during a 5-year 4-month period with a CT or surgical diagnosis of mesenteric injury were identified from a radiology database and trauma registry. Patients with CT findings of full-thickness bowel injury associated with mesenteric injury or diagnostic peritoneal lavage performed before CT were excluded. CT scans of all patients were retrospectively reviewed both with and without knowledge of surgical results. Medical records of all study patients were reviewed to ascertain admission physical findings and surgical results.Twenty-seven of 29 patients meeting the study criteria underwent laparotomy, and two others were managed conservatively. Among the 27 patients who had surgery. 24 (89%) had CT f...