Abstract
Electromyogram of the abdominal wall has been recorded in 6 children with peritonitis and 20 control patients. Abdominal tenderness and Blumberg's sign (rebound phenominon) have provided a certain pattern of the spike waves on electromyogram except for one newborn baby with severe pneumo-peritoneum due to duodenal perforation. In this patients, the absence of abdominal tenderness and Blumberg's sign was thought due to the absence of inflammation of the peritoneum in the abdominal wall, which was caused by insufflated air separating the abdominal wall from duodenal contents released in the peritoneal cavity by duodenal perforation. The control patients with no abdominal disease showed no spike wave on electromyogram by compression of the abdominal wall or abrupt release of compression. The record of electromyogram of the abdominal wall is useful to recognise abdominal tenderness or Blumberg's sign as an objective sign.
