• O Catalano.
• Istituto di Scienze Radiologiche, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Federico II, Napoli.
• Radiol Med. 1995 Jan 1;89(1-2):72-5.

AbstractAmong the various causes of free abdominal gas, there should be included those following chest injuries. In these cases, pneumoperitoneum may develop as a consequence of different physio-pathologic mechanisms and can be associated with pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum and/or retropneumoperitoneum. Gas can reach the peritoneal cavity in both blunt and penetrating chest traumas, following normal or abnormal pathways, i.e., diaphragmatic interruptions in the former case and congenital defects or post-traumatic diaphragmatic injuries in the latter case. In this trial, the authors investigated the clinical and semiologic meaning of this finding, frequently disregarded in traumatologic literature, which was observed in 6 cases of chest injuries: 4 blunt and 2 penetrating traumas. In this condition, even though conventional radiology remains the method of choice, CT can be considered as an integrative technique of great panorama allowing small amounts of free abdominal gas and related thoracic and abdominal injuries to be demonstrated, especially in the patients in forced supine decubitus, in whom abdominal plain films can be difficult to perform.

27 keywords...

hide…