Hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis

Hepatic portal venous gas in adults is a rare clinical entity. Pneumatosis intestinalis is a pathology characterized by many pneumatic cysts in the gut wall that is associated with the damage in the gut wall because of necrosis. In this article, a case that had hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis probably related to a mesenteric ischemia is presented. The computerized abdominal tomography examination of a male patient that attended to the emergency service with the complaint of abdominal pain and diffuse abdominal tenderness, showed widely distributed free air and fl uid level in the abdomen, intraparancymal branching air densities in the liver and spleen that are related to the intraluminal air in the portal and mesenteric veins and air throughout the small bowell wall associated with pneumatosis intestinalis. Hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis is a life-threatening process in most of the cases. So in uncertain cases, an exploratory procedure is necessary. Pam Med J 2010;3(3):157-160

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