Contrast-Enhanced Sonographic Findings of Gangrenous Meckel Diverticulitis

Abstract

Meckel diverticulum is occasionally associated with several complications, including hemorrhage, inflammation, perforation, and bowel obstruction.1 However, the preoperative diagnosis of Meckel diverticulum is difficult because of the lack of specific physical and laboratory findings. Technetium Tc 99m pertechnetate scintigraphy is useful for identifying patients with a bleeding Meckel diverticulum 2 ; however, this technique is not suitable for patients with an acute abdomen in whom the treatment protocol has to be decided as early as possible. In recent years, several reports have described the usefulness of sonography in detecting a complicated Meckel diverticulum. 3-7 Here, we report a case of gangrenous Meckel diverticulitis with perforation; this condition was detected preoperatively by gray scale and contrast-enhanced sonography. The latter, in particular, was useful for evaluating the viability of the wall of the Meckel diverticulum in our case. To our knowledge, contrast-enhanced sonographic findings of this condition have not been reported in the literature to date. We present the sonographic findings, including those of contrast-enhanced sonographic images, of gangrenous Meckel diverticulitis and correlate these findings with its surgical and pathologic findings.