Table 7.
Clinical Presentation | CT Findings | |
Diverticulosis (Figure 33) | Asymptomatic or bleeding. | Protruding sacs where the vessels pass through the muscularis layer, between the mesenteric and antimesenteric taenia. |
Angiodysplasia (Figure 5 and Figure 34) | Asymptomatic or bleeding. | Small hyperdense nodules within the intestinal wall, best defined in the portal phase of the study. |
Arterio-venous Malformation (Figure 17) | Haematochezia-rectorrhagia. | Vascular nidus with early opacification of the veins in the arterial phase. |
Dieulafoy’s Lesion | Asymptomatic or bleeding. | Abnormally enlarged submucosal vessel, which may appear tortuous, linear or as a non-specific “blush” of contrast medium at the mucosal/submucosal level. |
Rectal Varices and Haemorrhoids (Figure 35) | Pain and/or bleeding. | Dilated veins with possible bleeding visible in the portal phase; rectal varices are located proximal to the linea dentata while haemorrhoids are located in the anus. |
Colorectal Cancer/Polyps (Figure 6, Figure 36, Figure 37 and Figure 38) | Bowel obstruction with or without bleeding. | Adenocarcinoma: irregular wall thickening with or without stenosis [25]; Polyps: mass-forming protrusions in the intestinal lumen with vascularised peduncle. |
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Figure 39 and Figure 40) | Haematochezia-rectorrhagia. | Acute: thickening of the walls, engorgement of the adjacent vasa recta, hyperaemia of the mucosa and infiltration of perirectal fat. Chronic: the colon and rectum are narrowed and shortened, without haustra, and with proliferation of the perirectal fat. |
Colitis (Figure 41) | It depends on the aetiology. | Non-specific but associated with medical history, the clinical history and location of the lesions, it may be useful for diagnostic purposes. |
[26,30] |