Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014:2014:891360.
doi: 10.1155/2014/891360. Epub 2014 Jul 1.

Gastric emphysema a spectrum of pneumatosis intestinalis: a case report and literature review

Guillermo López-Medina  1 , Roxana Castillo Díaz de León  2 , Alberto Carlos Heredia-Salazar  1 , Daniel Ramón Hernández-Salcedo  1
Affiliations

Gastric emphysema a spectrum of pneumatosis intestinalis: a case report and literature review

Guillermo López-Medina et al. Case Rep Gastrointest Med. 2014.

Abstract

The finding of gas within the gastric wall is not a disease by itself, rather than a sign of an underlying condition which could be systemic or gastric. We present the case of a woman identified with gastric emphysema secondary to the administration of high doses of steroids, with the purpose of differentiating emphysematous gastritis versus gastric emphysema due to the divergent prognostic implications. Gastric emphysema entails a more benign course, opposed to emphysematous gastritis which often presents as an acute abdomen and carries a worse prognosis. Owing to the lack of established diagnostic criteria, computed tomography is the assessment method of choice. Currently no guidelines are available for the management of this entity, since the evidence is limited to a few case series and a considerable number of single case reports.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plain abdominal X-ray. Radiolucent image in the upper left abdominal quadrant, showing the presence of air within the wall of the stomach (arrow).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plain chest X ray. Radiolucent image below the left diaphragm showing the presence of air within the wall of the stomach (arrow).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Abdominal scout image from a computed tomography.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Computed axial tomography of the abdomen with oral contrast agent enhancing the stomach.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Computed axial tomography of the abdomen with oral and intravenous contrast agent enhancing the stomach during the arterial phase.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agha FP. Gastric emphysema: an etiologic classification. Australasian Radiology. 1984;28(4):346–352. - PubMed
    1. Loi TH, See J, Diddapur RK, Issac JR. Emphysematous gastritis: a case report and a review of literature. Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. 2007;36(1):72–73. - PubMed
    1. St Peter SD, Abbas MA, Kelly KA. The spectrum of pneumatosis intestinalis. Archives of Surgery. 2003;138(1):68–75. - PubMed
    1. Donovan S, Cernigliaro J, Dawson N. Pneumatosis intestinalis: a case report and approach to management. Case Reports in Medicine. 2011;2011:5 pages.571387 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Majumder S, Trikudanathan G, Moezardalan K, Cappa J. Vomiting-induced gastric emphysema: a rare self-limiting condition. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 2012;343(1):92–93. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources