This week's image comes to us via Figure 1, a smartphone app that's a virtual library where medical professionals can upload and share medical images. This particular image is an X-ray of a twist in the sigmoid colon that results in a condition called sigmoid volvulus. A hip replacement can also be seen on this X-ray.
Much like a garden hose, the kinked section of the intestine balloons in size as pressure increases. The puffy upside-down "U" shape that fills this patient's abdomen is the section of the intestine that is cut off from the rest of the intestine by the twist.
This alarming and uncomfortable condition can be corrected with surgery.
Photo via Figure 1
