Virgin abdomen
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Bell D, Sharma R, Baba Y, Virgin abdomen. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 22 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-62062
rID:
62062
Article created:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.
View Daniel J Bell's current disclosures
Last revised:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Rohit Sharma had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Rohit Sharma's current disclosures
Revisions:
4 times, by
3 contributors -
see full revision history and disclosures
Systems:
Synonyms:
- Virgin abdomens
Virgin abdomen is used to describe the abdomen of a patient who has never had any surgical procedure on their abdomen. It is usually used in the context of someone presenting with an acute small bowel obstruction and whether adhesions might be the underlying etiology.
The conventional wisdom being that without a prior history of intraperitoneal surgery the odds of adhesions being the etiology are lowered. However, there is debate around this long-held assumption 1.
References
- 1. Beardsley C, Furtado R, Mosse C, Gananadha S, Fergusson J, Jeans P, Beenen E. Small bowel obstruction in the virgin abdomen: the need for a mandatory laparotomy explored. (2014) American journal of surgery. 208 (2): 243-8. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2013.09.034 - Pubmed
Incoming Links
Articles:
Related articles: Terms used in radiology
- general
- ancillary
- Cinderella
- diagnosis of exclusion
- dilation vs dilatation
- epiphenomenon
- florid
- forme fruste
- gold standard
- heterogeneous vs heterogenous
- Hickam's dictum
- iatrogenic disease
- idiopathic
- in extremis
- natural history
- non-specific
- Occam's razor
- prodrome
- Saint's triad
- self-limiting
- sequela
- sine qua non
- status post
- subclinical disease
- syndrome
- radiology-specific
- pathology
- agenesis
- anlage
- aplasia
- apoptosis
- atresia
- atrophy
- cyst
- dehiscence
- diathesis
- diverticulum
- dyscrasia
- dysplasia
- exophytic
- fistula
- fluid collection
- granulation tissue
- hernia
- hyperplasia
- hypertrophy
- hypoplasia
- lamellated
- laminated
- malignancy
- metaplasia
- necrosis
- neoplasm
- phlegmon
- septum
- synechia
- trabecula
- CNS
- chest
- epidemiology
- gastrointestinal
- genetics
- musculoskeletal
- oncology