Brief Article
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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2013; 19(39): 6579-6584
Published online Oct 21, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i39.6579
Computed tomography findings of pneumatosis and portomesenteric venous gas in acute bowel ischemia
Marco Milone, Matteo Nicola Dario Di Minno, Mario Musella, Paola Maietta, Vittorio Iaccarino, Giovanni Barone, Francesco Milone
Marco Milone, Matteo Nicola Dario Di Minno, Mario Musella, Paola Maietta, Vittorio Iaccarino, Francesco Milone, Department of Advanced Biomedical Science, University “Federico II” of Naples, 80131 Naples, Italy
Giovanni Barone, Department of Surgery, “Fatebenefratelli” Hospital in Naples, 80123 Naples, Italy
Author contributions: Milone M and Di Minno MND designed the report and wrote the manuscript; Iaccarino V performed the image diagnosis; Maietta P acquired the data; Musella M and Barone G analysed and interpreted the data; Milone F provided the final approval of the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Marco Milone, MD, Department of Advanced Biomedical Science, University “Federico II”, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. milone.marco@alice.it
Telephone: +39-81-7463067 Fax: +39-81-7462896
Received: February 4, 2013
Revised: April 2, 2013
Accepted: May 19, 2013
Published online: October 21, 2013
Processing time: 276 Days and 15.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Although the finding of pneumatosis plus porto-mesenteric venous gas is useful in verifying transmural necrosis with a specificity of 83%, the very low sensitivity of 17% indicates that the diagnosis of transmural necrosis cannot be excluded based on a normal findings. Thus, our results appear to be encouraging by indicating that neither portomesenteric venous gas nor pneumatosis were pathognomonic of bowel transmural infarction.