digestive disorders
Abdominal Abscesses
Diagnosis of Abdominal Abscesses
Imaging tests Needle aspiration Doctors can easily misdiagnose an abscess because the first symptoms it causes are usually vague and mild and may be mistaken for less serious problems that are more common. If doctors suspect a person has an abscess, they usually do Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Digestive Tract (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis or sometimes To make a definitive diagnosis and treat the abscess, doctors sometimes insert a needle through the skin to draw a sample of pus from the abscess (needle aspiration) and place a drain. To guide the placement of the needle, doctors use CT or ultrasound scanning. The sample of fluid is then examined in a laboratory to identify the infecting organism so that the most effective antibiotic can be selected. Occasionally, Radionuclide Scanning is done to help identify abscesses. For scanning, a radionuclide is used to label a substance that accumulates in a specific part of the body. Different substances are used depending on which part of the body is to be evaluated. 