title: [Idiopathic pneumoperitoneum].
abstract: We report the case of a 48-year-old man who was admitted to the intensive care unit for acute respiratory distress. After discharge, the patient showed massive pneumoperitoneum. None of the complementary investigations provided information on the cause. The patient underwent surgery but no intraoperative diagnosis was reached. We believe that this case is of interest since pneumoperitoneum is a frequent entity that often leads to emergency laparotomy. The cause is usually perforation, although in a substantial proportion of cases the pneumoperitoneum is non-surgical, or idiopathic.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Cano
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vilallonga-Puy
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lozoya-Trujillo
authors.forename: Eloi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Espin-Basany
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sánchez-García
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Armengol-Carrasco
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011027:Pneumoperitoneum / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery