Intestinal ultrasound in rare small and large intestinal diseases

Intestinal ultrasonography is a meanwhile established and valid diagnostic method in inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, and appendicitis. Little, however, is known about other more rare intestinal diseases. Serving as a tertiary referral center for a broad spectrum of intestinal diseases we therefore report some aspects of ultrasonography in patients with acute and chronic enteritis and colitis of different origin, e.g., bacterial and viral colitis, ileocecal tuberculosis, AIDS-related enteritis, neutropenic colitis, cystic fibrosis, celiac sprue, vasculitis, benign and malignant tumors of the intestine, amyloidosis, ischemic colitis, and radiogenic enteritis. Ultrasonography may display the transformation of the intestinal wall from normal to pathological states both in inflammatory and neoplastic disease. Besides demonstrating the transmural aspect of inflammation it also shows the mesenteric reaction as well as complications such as fistula, abscesses, stenosis, or ileus. Furthermore, in some diseases intestinal ultrasonography may serve as a diagnostic clue if typical patterns of the bowel wall and impaired peristalsis can be demonstrated. This may lead to an important reduction of invasive and expensive procedures. Ultrasonography is of definite help in the follow-up of inflammatory changes of the bowel wall and primarily diagnostic with respect of other entities (e.g., penicillin-induced segmental hemorrhagic colitis). A sonographic differential diagnosis of diseases of the bowel wall on a purely morphological basis, however, is difficult and rather the exception than the rule. The information gained by ultrasonography regarding intestinal disease, however, is as important and valid as e.g., in case of focal lesions of the liver.