INTUSSUSCEPTION - CHARACTERISTIC RADIOLUCENCIES ON THE ABDOMINAL RADIOGRAPH

Six hundred and twenty-five sets of supine and erect abdominal radiogr aphs of 288 patients with the confirmed diagnosis of intussusception ( 315 episodes) and 310 patients without intussusception were reviewed r etrospectively to determine the characteristic radiographic features o f intussusception. Among the patients with intussusception, 155 episod es (49 %) showed a soft tissue mass and nearly half of these (71) show ed characteristic radiolucencies (target, crescentic, or amorphous) in the soft tissue mass. Thirty-five episodes showed the radiolucencies on both the supine and erect radiographs; in 16 cases the type of radi olucency differed on the two films. In patients without intussusceptio n, abnormal radiolucencies were seen in only seven cases (2.3 %). Comp uted tomography performed prospectively in five patients showed the ra diolucencies in the soft tissue mass to be intussuscepted mesenteric f at. We conclude that abnormal radiolucencies in the soft tissue mass o n plain radiographs are characteristic of intussusception.