Gastrointestinal Bleeding at CT Angiography and CT Enterography: Imaging Atlas and Glossary of Terms.

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a common potentially life-threatening medical condition frequently requiring multidisciplinary collaboration to reach the proper diagnosis and guide management. GI bleeding can be overt (eg, visible hemorrhage such as hematemesis, hematochezia, or melena) or occult (eg, positive fecal occult blood test or iron deficiency anemia). Upper GI bleeding, which originates proximal to the ligament of Treitz, is more common than lower GI bleeding, which arises distal to the ligament of Treitz. Small bowel bleeding accounts for 5-10% of GI bleeding cases commonly manifesting as obscure GI bleeding, where the source remains unknown after complete GI tract endoscopic and imaging evaluation. CT can aid in identifying the location and cause of bleeding and is an important complementary tool to endoscopy, nuclear medicine, and angiography in evaluating patients with GI bleeding. For radiologists, interpreting CT scans in patients with GI bleeding can be challenging owing to the large number of images and the diverse potential causes of bleeding. The purpose of this pictorial review by the Society of Abdominal Radiology GI Bleeding Disease-Focused Panel is to provide a practical resource for radiologists interpreting GI bleeding CT studies that reviews the proper GI bleeding terminology, the most common causes of GI bleeding, key patient history and risk factors, the optimal CT imaging technique, and guidelines for case interpretation and illustrates many common causes of GI bleeding. A CT reporting template is included to help generate radiology reports that can add value to patient care. An invited commentary by Al Hawary is available online. Online supplemental material is available for this article. ©RSNA, 2021.

Self-Treatment Practices for Perceived Symptoms of Malaria in Ethiopia.

One of the most significant public health issues faced in Ethiopia is malaria. The most influential problem of this public health issue is overcoming barriers of having proper access to professional care and treatment. This study aims to elucidate the self-interventions undertaken by individuals when they perceive symptoms of malaria in a family-member prior to, or instead of, seeking care at a healthcare facility. Our study found that the prevalence of self-medication for malaria in the Wirtu Yedi kebele is 37.3%. Almost all individuals eventually sought treatment for malaria at the healthcare facility. More than half did so in less than one day. When self-treatment was used, there was a wide array of self-medication practices used, including modern medications not prescribed by a healthcare professional, herbs, and non-pharmacological measures. The more commonly used medications were chloroquine and Coartem® (artemether and lumefantrine). Most reported obtaining these medications at a drug outlet store without a prescription and prior to seeking care at a health center. Of the various herbs reported that were used to self treat malaria the most commonly used were garlic, ginger, and harmaguse. The use of herbs was found to be less common than the use of modern medication. Of the non-pharmacological interventions, rituals were the most prevalent.

Multiphase Computed Tomographic Enterography: Diagnostic Yield and Efficacy in Patients With Suspected Small Bowel Bleeding.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the diagnostic yield and efficacy of multiphase computed tomographic enterography (mpCTE) for suspected small bowel bleeding in routine clinical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All mpCTEs performed between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2014, for suspected small bowel bleeding were included and classified by a gastroenterologist and an abdominal radiologist. The reference standard for a definitive diagnosis was balloon-assisted enteroscopic, angiographic, surgical, or pathologic results. Overall and lesion-specific diagnostic yield (DY), sensitivity, and positive predictive value were calculated. The relationship of mpCTE diagnosis and continued bleeding or iron supplementation was examined using logistic regression in patients with at least 1 year of follow-up. RESULTS: We identified 1087 patients who had an initial mpCTE indication of small bowel bleeding. The overall DY was 31.6% (344 of 1087 patients; 95% CI, 29.0%-35.0%), higher for an indication of small bowel bleeding that was overt or occult with heme-positive stool vs occult with only iron-deficiency anemia (DY, 35.0% [170 of 486] and 35.3% [66 of 187] vs 26.1% [108 of 414]; P=.004 and P=.02, respectively). The highest sensitivity and positive predictive value were for small bowel masses (90.2% [55 of 61] and 98.2% [55 of 56], respectively). Higher risk of future bleeding and iron supplementation was seen with a negative result on mpCTE (odds ratio [OR], 1.91; 95% CI, 1.28-2.86), lack of surgical intervention (OR, 4.37; 95% CI, 2.31-8.29), or discrepant balloon-assisted enteroscopic findings (OR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.03-6.09). CONCLUSION: Multiphase computed tomographic enterography has a higher rate of detection in patients with overt bleeding or heme-positive stool. The procedure provides actionable targets for further intervention and leads to substantially reduced rates of rebleeding in long-term follow-up.