Beyond routine abdominal CT in the ER: a patient with indeterminate recurrent abdominal pain benefits from CT enterography

We report the case of a 52-year-old female with multiple medical complaints and extensive prior clinical and imaging workup who presented to the emergency department with weakness and recurrent episodes of abdominal pain. She had had multiple inconclusive routine computed tomographic (CT) examinations. A 7-mm small bowel tumor was diagnosed on CT enterography and subsequently confirmed to be a carcinoid tumor of the ileum by enteroscopy and at surgery. The diagnosis was suggested prospectively utilizing CT enterography performed in the emergency radiology suite.