A case report and approach to management in pneumatosis intestinalis
Open Access
- 30 September 2017
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Annals of Medicine & Surgery
- Vol. 23, 25-27
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2017.09.010
Abstract
Pneumatosis Intestinalis (PI) is an uncommon condition in which there is gas present within the wall of the gastrointestinal tract. PI is usually found in the large bowel, but can less commonly occur in the small bowel, and gas may be present in either the subserosal or submucosal layer of the intestine. Its unfamiliarity often means it is under-recognised and not considered as a differential diagnosis when assessing a patient with abdominal symptoms. The spectrum of conditions that produce PI is varied and ranges from the non-urgent to life-threatening. Early appreciation of the overall clinical picture is therefore paramount to enable the practitioner to distinguish between the benign to the fatal cases of PI and enable precise decision-making regarding its management. The challenge facing the clinician is twofold; firstly the accurate identification of the diagnosis of PI, as opposed to other causes of peritoneal gas and secondly judging whether operative or non-operative management should ensue. We present a case of a patient presenting on two separate occasions with PI, abdominal symptoms and radiological signs of acute abdominal pathology which demonstrates the wide spectrum of difficulties faced with this uncommon condition.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- An approach to pneumatosis intestinalis: Factors affecting your managementInternational Journal of Surgery Case Reports, 2014
- Pneumatosis Intestinalis Complicated by Pneumoperitoneum in a Patient with AsthmaTuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, 2014
- Management and outcome of pneumatosis intestinalisThe American Journal of Surgery, 2008
- Pneumatosis Intestinalis in the Adult: Benign to Life-Threatening CausesAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 2007
- Conservative management of pneumatosis intestinalisGynecologic Oncology, 2005
- Pneumatosis Intestinalis — A Pitfall for Surgeons?Scandinavian Journal of Surgery, 2005
- Serum Lactic Acid Determines the Outcomes of CT Diagnosis of Pneumatosis of the Gastrointestinal TractThe American Surgeon, 2004
- Gastrointestinal manifestations of progressive systemic sclerosis.1997
- Pneumatosis intestinalis: a review.1995
- Pneumatosis Intestinalis: A New ConceptRadiology, 1961