thumbprinting

thumbprinting /thumb·print·ing/ (thum´print-ing) a radiographic sign appearing as smooth indentations on the barium-filled colon, as though made by depression with the thumb.

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Thumbprinting

A finding in a barium study of the colon, which consists of multiple broad, sharply defined short and rounded often symmetric indentations in the contrast column; it occurs in
(1) Mesenteric artery ischemia or ischemic ‘colitis’ with infarction and intramural haematoma formation—often at splenic flexure, descending colon and
(2) Ulcerative colitis
DiffDx Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis—due to indentation of barium column by mucosa-covered gas—pseudomembranous colitis, Entamoeba histolytica amebiasis, E coli O157:H7 enterocolitis—due to submucosal edema and other infectious colitides—hemorrhage, Crohn’s disease, endometriosis, hereditary angioneurotic edema, amyloidosis, malignancy—lymphoma, metastases; when the edema affects the mucosal folds of the small intestine, it is called ‘pinky printing’; thumbprinting in the markedly thickened folds of the gastric fundus and body in an upper GI tract may occur in Menetrier’s disease—giant hypertrophic gastritis

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thumbprinting [thum´print-ing]

a radiographic sign appearing as smooth indentations on the barium-filled colon, as though made by depression with the thumb; seen in various disorders of the colon, especially ischemic colitis.

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thumbprinting

Imaging A finding in a barium study of the colon, which consists of multiple broad, sharply defined short and rounded often symmetric indentations in the contrast column; it is described in 1. Mesenteric artery ischemia or ischemic 'colitis' with infarction and intramural hematoma formation–often at splenic flexure, descending colon and 2. Ulcerative colitis. Cf Collar button lesion.