Noninvasive imaging tests in the diagnosis and treatment of intra-abdominal abscesses in the postoperative patient.

The postoperative surgical patient poses special problems in the diagnosis of intra-abdominal abscess. A natural evolution has occurred over the last 20 years from purely clinical impressions being used to initiate reoperations for abscess to the present scenario, in which sophisticated CT scans permit minimally invasive drainage methods. The CT scan has become the diagnostic imaging method of choice, with other techniques serving a very limited role at the present time.