A Case of Focal Intestinal Perforation With a Partial Defect of the Muscularis Propria in an Extremely Low Birth Weight Infant

Abstract

The patient was a 4-day-old boy. At 26 weeks of gestational age, the boy weighing 860 g was delivered by caesarean section because of a nonreassuring fetal status and breech presentation. On day 4, he presented with a blue distended abdomen, and X-rays showed pneumoperitoneum due to the presence of free air. Emergency laparotomy was performed and the patient was found to have focal intestinal perforation (FIP). The perforated site was 10 cm proximal side to the terminal ileum, and there were some thin and bulging spots near this site. The perforated site including the thin spots was resected, and double-barreled ileostomy was successfully formed. Histopathological analysis revealed the segmental absence of intestinal musculature near the site of perforation, which was thus considered to have caused the FIP.