Scenario
An 8 month old child presents with one day of vomiting and abdominal distension.
His observations are:
His abdominal X-ray is shown.
Question
a. Describe and interpret this child’s X-ray. (50%) b. Outline your management. (50%)
Answer
FACEM VAQ Exam 2007.1 – Question 2
- The overall pass rate for this question was 32/55 (58.2%).
- X-ray showed small bowel dilatation with fluid levels in the L upper quadrant and soft tissue shadowing in the R lower quadrant suggestive of an intussusception within the bowel lumen.
- The examiners felt that this was an excellent question. Poor responses failed to describe the image adequately and/or featured poor management options.
About Mike Cadogan
I’ll go out on a limb on this one, Mike. I think this kid has a bowel perforation. I can see “football sign” and “Rigler’s sign” in the left flank.
I’m sure you’ll let me know very fast if I’m wrong!