Abstract
An 80-year-old man presented with progressive left-sided abdominal pain and distention. His abdominal plain radiograph revealed a focally dilated, redundant loop of sigmoid colon, having a mottled appearance. A computed tomographic (CT) scan with soft tissue settings showed no evidence of pneumatosis; however, with lung window settings [mean, —600 Hounsfield units (HU); width, 1000 HU], intramural pockets of air were seen in the bowel wall. The pneumatosis was presumed secondary to recurrent sigmoid volvulus. The utility of CT lung windows to evaluate the gastrointestinal tract in patients with acute abdominal conditions cannot be overemphasized.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Heng Y, Schuffler MD, Haggitt RC, et al. Pneumatosis intestinalis: a review. Am J Gastroenterol 1995;90:1747–58.
Koss LG. Abdominal gas cysts (pneumatosis cystoides intestinorum hominis). Arch Pathol 1952;53:523–49.
Knechtle SJ, Davidoff AM, Rice RP. Pneumatosis intestinalis: surgical management and clinical outcome. Ann Surg 1990; 212:160–5.
Gillon J, Holt S, Sircus W. Pneumatosis coli and sigmoid volvulus: a report of 4 cases. Br J Surg 1979;66:802–5.
Cho KC, Baker S. Extraluminal air: diagnosis and significance. Radiol Clin North Am 1994;32:829–44.
Rice RP, Thompson WM, Gedgaudas RK. The diagnosis and significance of extraluminal gas in the abdomen. Radiol Clin North Am 1982;32:819–37.
Hutchins WW, Gore RM, Foley MJ. CT demonstration of pneumatosis intestinalis from bowel infarction. Comput Radiol 1983; 7:283–5.
Connor R, Jones B, Fishman EK, Siegelman SS. Pneumatosis intestinalis: role of computed tomography in diagnosis and management. J Comput Assist Tomogr 1984;8:269–75.
Hosomi N, Yoshioka H, Kuroda C, Sawai Y, Inoue E, Kadota T, Narumi Y, Kuriyama K, Fujita M, Iishi H, Ohtani T, Okuda S. Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis: CT findings. Abdom Imaging 1994;19:137–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yamada, C.Y., Sacknoff, R. & Novelline, R.A. Pneumatosis intestinalis in association with sigmoid volvulus: Value of lung windows during abdominal computed tomography. Emergency Radiology 3, 198–201 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01507741
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01507741