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Health Dictionary

Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.

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Small intestine cancer CT

Introduction

Overview

Overview

Abdominal CT scan may be diagnostic of small intestine cancer. Findings on CT scan suggestive of small intestine cancer include intrinsic mass with a short segment of bowel wall thickening.

CT Scan

CT Scan

  • CT is the study of choice for staging the disease by identifying primary tumor, assessing local, nodal, and distant spread.
  • CT may help in differentiating between the small intestinal cancers. Different cancers have different appearance on CT:[1]
  • CT scan may show intrinsic mass with a short segment of bowel wall thickening.
  • Invasion of retro peritoneal fat planes, pancreatic and biliary duct, vascular encasement, lymph nodal and distant metastases is common in later stages.
  • In Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome, non-neoplastic lesions may resemble small intestinal neoplasm on CT.
Tumors Findings on CT
Adenocarcinmoa
  • Ulcerative lesions, nodular lesions and annular lesions
Carcinoid tumors
  • Poorly defined homogenous mass displacing intestinal loops
  • Calcification and desmoplastic reaction is a very specific finding of carcinoid tumors on CT
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Bulky mass on CT
  • Lymphoma is associated with significant dilation of the lumen of intestine
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GISTs)
  • Intraluminal, subserosal or submucosal homogeneous masses with sharply defined borders
  • Calcifications
Lipoma
  • Intraluminal homogeneous mass, well-circumscribed and with some fat attenuation
Malignant metastasized tumors
  • Intraperitoneal seedings extending locally
  • Metastasized tumors give appearance of multiple small nodular masses in intestinal serosa, mesentery, and omentum
References

References

  1. ↑ Buckley, J A; Fishman, E K (1998). “CT evaluation of small bowel neoplasms: spectrum of disease”. RadioGraphics. 18 (2): 379–392. doi:10.1148/radiographics.18.2.9536485. ISSN 0271-5333.

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Qurrat-ul-ain Abid, M.D.[2]