Exams and Tests

Your doctor can diagnose a bowel obstruction through:

• Your medical history and a physical exam. What your doctor finds in your medical history and physical exam may strongly suggest that you have a bowel obstruction. For your medical history, your doctor will ask questions about your pain, your symptoms, and other digestive conditions or abdominal surgeries that you have had. During the physical exam, your doctor will feel your abdomen for tenderness or bloating and will listen with a stethoscope for bowel sounds. He or she will then confirm the diagnosis through other tests.
• An abdominal X-ray. This type of X-ray can detect blockages in the small and large intestines. See an illustration of a blocked bowel.
• A CT scan of the abdomen. A CT scan can help your doctor distinguish between a partial and a complete obstruction and can help in diagnosing most cancers. It also can show signs that help determine whether the blood supply has been cut off (strangulated) to the affected part of the bowel.

The following health professionals can diagnose a bowel obstruction:

• Internist
• Family medicine doctor
• Pediatrician
• Gastroenterologist
• Surgeon
• Nurse practitioner
• Physician assistant
• Emergency medicine specialist

Your doctor may order a test called a complete blood count to check for infection or dehydration. While this test does not help in diagnosing a bowel obstruction, it will help your doctor determine how sick you are.