RETROPSOAS POSITIONED BOWEL - INCIDENCE AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Purpose: Our goal was to assess the incidence of retropsoas positioned large or small bowel in the population and to examine factors predisp osing to its formation. Method: The presence of retropsoas positioned bowel was retrospectively studied in 1,852 abdominal CT examinations o f 1,055 men and 797 women, 648 younger and 1,204 older than 50 years. All examinations were considered normal or demonstrated findings that were unrelated to the position of the bowel. Results: Retropsoas posit ioned colon (RPC) was observed in 51 (2.8%) cases for the ascending an d 45 (2.3%) for the descending colon. RPC appeared more frequently in younger (<50 years) than older patients and in individuals with decrea sed amount of retroperitoneal fat. Retropsoas position of small bowel loops was observed in 11 (0.6%) patients, all exhibiting paucity of re troperitoneal fat. Conclusion: Because of its prevalence, retropsoas p ositioned bowel should be considered when performing percutaneous disk ectomy or other interventional procedures in the posterior retroperito neum.