A CASE OF PNEUMATOSIS CYSTOIDES INTESTINALIS IN A SUPER ELDER (87-YEAR-MAN) WITH SPONTANEOUS PNEUMOPERITONIUM

Abstract

An 87-year-old man who had been treated for atrial fibrillation at the department of internal medicine in our hospital was referred to the department because he complained of mild abdominal pain. On admission, a plain chest X-ray film revealed free air under the diaphragm and an abdominal X-ray film showed a dilatation of the small intestine.
An emergency operation was performed with a suspicion of perforation of the superior intestinum tanue. During operation we recognized emphysematous change on the jejunum and mesenterium. From these intraoperative findings, this case was diagnosed as pneumatosis cystoids intestinalis (PCI) and judged that freeair was due to PCI. A partial resection of the small intestine was performed because the patient developed spontaneous pneumoperitonium.