Multidetector computed tomography of the acute abdomen in the immunocompromised host: a pictorial review.

Immunocompromised patients include those receiving chemotherapy for malignant disease, post-transplant patients, patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and those receiving steroids for autoimmune diseases. Advances in transplantation, oncology, and the treatment of AIDS have extended these patients' life expectancies and thereby increased the immunocompromised population. Classical clinical signs of abdominal sepsis may be absent in the immunocompromised host.

The acute abdomen in the immune compromised host.

Recent advances in transplantation, oncology and AIDS therapy have greatly increased life expectancies of patients diagnosed with malignancy, auto-immune disorders and organ failure. However, as this immune compromised population grows, complications of such therapies have become a major source of morbidity and mortality. Classical clinical and laboratory evidence of intra-abdominal pathology may be absent in the immune compromised host.