Roentgenologic Diagnosis of Diseases of the Small Intestine

F OR more than twenty years examination with the roentgen ray has been an established and extraordinarily efficient method of diagnosing diseases of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum and colon, but during most of this period the small bowel beyond the duodenum seldom was subjected to thorough and systematic investigation. For the neglect of this field there seemed to be good and sufficient reasons; diseases of the jejunum and ileum are relatively rare, complete examination of the small bowel is time-conto identify many of them with precision. I t is scarcely to be doubted that progress will continue and that eventually roentgenologic examination of the small bowel will become as diagnostically reliable as that of the stomach and colon. A standardized technic of examination can hardly be prescribed, for examiners are likely to differ as to details, but one that has proved most satisfactory at The Mayo Clinic is as follows: The patient appears for examination in the morning after fast ing over-