ASSESSMENT OF THE DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) SCAN TO DIAGNOSE INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH

Objective: To evaluate CT scan’s diagnostic accuracy as it pertains to the diagnosis of intestinal obstruction on the basis of histopathological analysis as gold standard. Methods: A total of 111 subjects, who demonstrated clinical signs and symptoms of intestinal obstruction, participated in this study. Their ages ranged from twenty years to sixty years. CT scans were then carried out. During the CT scans, the parameters evaluated were: presence of any wall thickening of bowel or focal mass lesion at or around the level of obstruction, dilatation of bowel loops and presence of abrupt or gradual change of luminal calibre in the bowel. During the two procedures—CT scans and histopathological analysis— accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were also evaluated. Results: The mean age of the 111 subjects that partook in the study was calculated to be (39.6 ± 11.4) years, with the male to female ratio being approximately 1:1. With the aid of the CT scan procedure, intestinal obstruction was observed in seventy percent of the cases. By further employing histopathological analysis, seventy-three percent of the subjects were noted to demonstrate intestinal obstruction. In this study, the average accuracy was 69.4 %, the sensitivity was 95.1% and the specificity 96.7 %. From amongst all those who participated in the study, subjects that were older than 40 years were associated with a salient specificity value of 94.7 % and a sensitivity value of 100%. The subjects that were equal to or younger than 40 years in age exhibited a specificity value of 100% and a sensitivity value of 91.1 %. In the female subjects, the specificity values recorded were 100% and sensitivity values 90.2 %. In the male subjects, the specificity value recorded was 93.3 % and sensitivity value 100%. Conclusion: CT scan is an exceedingly efficacious and sensitive test that is normally employed for the detection and assessment of bowel obstruction. It is useful in determining the etiological causes of the obstruction and the true locations of any suspected anatomical anomalies. Keywords: Histopathology, CT scan, Diagnostic Accuracy and intestinal obstruction