Abstract    CT has an important role in the workup and treatment of patients with small bowel obstruction. The diagnosis of small bowel obstruction on C.T is made when there is a discrepancy between the calibers of proximal and distal small bowel loops. If a distinct point of transition between the dilated proximal and collapsed distal bowel is detected, the diagnosis is more certain. Two secondary signs that has been reported to be helpful in confirming small bowel obstruction is the “small-bowel feces” sign and “string of beads” sign. This study was done to assess the role of these “small-bowel feces” sign and “string of beads sign” in the diagnosis of clinically suspected small-bowel obstruction. We assessed 62 patients in the study who were suspected to have intestinal obstruction and was referred for CT scan of the abdomen. Of the 62 patients 34 had small bowel obstructionand 28 had no obstruction.10 of them had small bowel feces sign and it was absent in the remaining 24.8 of them had string of beads sign and it was absent in the remaining 26. All those who had the above mentioned signs had small bowel obstruction on laparotomy suggesting a specificity of 100 %. However sensitivity was only 29% for small bowel feces sign and 23.5% for string of beads sign, indicating that these signs are not very sensitive for obstruction, but when present they are very specific.

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