1996 Volume 57 Issue 5 Pages 1174-1178
We experienced a relatively rare case of pneumatosis cytoides coli in which multiple cysts due to gas occurred in the intestinal wall.
A 45-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of anal bleeding and repeated abdominal pain. She was a painter and had been treated trichlorethelene for more than 20 years. There was no history of paticular disease nor family history. Abdominal X-ray film revealed a honey-comb shadow in the left abdomen. Barium-enema examination revealed many broad-based and smooth-surfaced polypoid lesions all over the sigmoid colon. Endoscopic examination of the colon showed multiple polypoid lesions, which decreased in size upon rupture with forceps. The patient was diagnosed as pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) and successfully treated by 14 day oxygen inhalation in a dose of 5l catheter for 5 hours a day. The lesions completely disappeared, and no recurrence has been found for 7 months thereafter. Oxygenation therapy used in this case is excellent in that it can offer a reliable therapeutic effect with shorter period.
