Obstruction
Obstruction means a normal passage is blocked, such as the bowel, urinary tract, bile ducts, blood vessels, or airways.
When to get help quickly: Obstruction often needs prompt or urgent review, especially if symptoms are severe, a vital organ is affected, or there are signs of infection or poor blood supply.
Common symptoms
Symptoms depend on what is blocked and may include pain, swelling, vomiting, jaundice, breathlessness, reduced urine, or inability to pass stool or wind.
When imaging helps
Imaging helps show where the blockage is, what is causing it, and whether there are dangerous complications such as infection, tissue damage, or perforation.
What radiology does
Imaging helps show where the blockage is, how severe it is, and whether there are complications such as swelling, ischemia, or perforation.
What usually happens next
Treatment depends on the organ involved and may include observation, medicines, decompression, procedures, or surgery.
Seen this on your report?
Your doctor or the radiologist who wrote it can tell you what it means for you.
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Related scan guides
- Nephrostomy Tube Placement and CareA Nephrostomy places a small drain directly through your back into your kidney, allowing trapped urine to bypass a blockage and flow safely into a collection bag — providing immediate relief for the kidney.
- CT UrogramA CT Urogram is a special type of CT scan that focuses on the urinary tract. This includes the kidneys, ureters (the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder), and the bladder itself.
- Biliary StentingBiliary drainage or stenting can relieve selected bile-duct obstruction, but drainage may be incomplete and infection, bleeding, leakage, blockage, or repeat procedures can occur.