Use of intraperitoneal xenon-133 for imaging of intestinal strangulation in small bowel obstruction

Intraperitoneal xenon-133 dissolved in saline solution was evaluated for the detection of early strangulation in a reproducible model of segmental intestinal obstruction in rats and dogs. There was a highly significant delay in externally detected isotope washout from animals with strangulated loops compared with normal, sham operated and simple (nonstrangulated) obstruction control groups. Concentrations of isotope obtained in ischemic intestinal tissue exceeded those previously reported by an order of magnitude. Corresponding anterior abdominal gamma camera images showed marked retention of isotope at 1 hour in the strangulation obstruction groups and the sites of this activity corresponded to the location of the ischemic loops. Blinded readings of these images by nuclear radiologists showed this method to be highly accurate for the detection of strangulation in these animal models. This method should be directly applicable to patients with intestinal obstruction.