Sonographic assessment of the bowel wall.

The thickness and regularity of the bowel wall can often be assessed by sonographic imaging. In 26 normal patients, the bowel wall averaged 3 mm in thickness when distended and 5 mm when nondistended. In contrast, in 12 patients with an abnormally thickened bowel wall, bowel wall thickness averaged 23 mm and the affected bowel segment exhibited decreased or absent peristalsis on real-time scanning. The data derived from this study may enable the sonographic distinction of abnormally thickened bowel wall from normal bowel segments in the collapsed and distended state.