Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Jun 28, 2023; 15(6): 191-200
Published online Jun 28, 2023. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v15.i6.191
Role of contrast-enhanced serial/spot abdominal X-rays in perioperative follow-up of patients undergoing abdominal surgery: An observational clinical study
Osman Nuri Dilek, Arif Atay, Orgun Gunes, Furkan Karahan, Şebnem Karasu
Osman Nuri Dilek, Arif Atay, Furkan Karahan, Department of Surgery, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, İzmir 35150, Turkey
Orgun Gunes, Department of Surgery, İzmir Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, İzmir 35150, Turkey
Şebnem Karasu, Department of Radiology, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, İzmir 35150, Turkey
Author contributions: Dilek ON was the designer of the study and revised the article critically for scientific content and collected the images; Güneş Ö and Atay A participated in the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and drafted the initial manuscript; Karahan F and Karasu Ş collected and reported the patients’ data and images.
Institutional review board statement: The study was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. As a routine procedure, written informed consent was obtained from each patient for all procedures and publications. Ethics committee approval was received for this study (2022/GOKAE/0542) from the Clinical Trials Ethics Committee.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardians, provided informed written consent before study enrollment. The data used in this study did not involve the patients’ privacy information, so the informed consent was waived by the Ethics Committee of University Hospital. All patient data obtained, recorded, and managed were only used for this study, and all patient information is strictly confidential, without any harm to the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All of the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in connection with this paper, and the material described is not under publication or consideration for publication elsewhere.
Data sharing statement: All of the authors declare that there are no shared data in this paper, and the material described is not under publication or consideration for publication elsewhere.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Osman Nuri Dilek, FACS, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, Basın Sitesi, İzmir 35150, Turkey. osmannuridilek@gmail.com
Received: March 13, 2023
Peer-review started: March 13, 2023
First decision: May 9, 2023
Revised: May 17, 2023
Accepted: June 16, 2023
Article in press: June 16, 2023
Published online: June 28, 2023
Processing time: 106 Days and 20 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Although abdominal X-rays are one of the most frequently used imaging methods in emergencies, they are not as reliable as expected.

Research motivation

The desire to quickly evaluate and know the developments in patients being followed in the surgery clinic and intensive care units prompted us to conduct this study.

Research objectives

It has been designed especially for imaging at bedside in order to learn the result of the procedure or the existence and dimensions of undesirable situations in a short time.

Research methods

Initially, contrast-enhanced abdominal X ray (CE-AXR) was performed to evaluate only biliary tract anastomoses (cholangiography). Evaluation of images (CE-AXR) obtained by the application of catheters, drains, nasogastric tube, or oral contrast agent (iohexol, 300 mg, 50 cc vial) mixed with saline or water in very different clinical situations with satisfactory results (stenosis, patency, functionality, fistula, obstruction, etc.) was performed. File data of patients who underwent CE-AXR in the retrospective observational study were evaluated.

Research results

As a result of examining the data of a total of 131 patients, it was determined that CE-AXR, which was performed after liver, biliary tract, pancreas, esophagus, and stomach operations, provided adequate imaging in 74.8% of the cases and contributed to the diagnosis and treatment process. No complications related to the procedure were observed.

Research conclusions

CE-AXR is a very simple imaging method that has no side effects. It can be very useful in clinics and intensive care units because it can be done with mobile X-ray devices at bedside and give fast results. It also has advantages such as reducing the burden of the radiology unit and exposure to radiation.

Research perspectives

CE-AXR can contribute to the diagnosis and treatment process in patients with upper gastrointestinal (esophagus and stomach) and hepatopancratobiliary surgeries, chemotherapy patients, and cases with persistent nausea-vomiting complaints and suspected intestinal obstruction. Prospective clinical studies are needed to better understand the effectiveness of CE-AXR.