title: A Novel Cause of Free Intraperitoneal Air in the Emergency Department.
abstract: Although all emergency physicians are familiar with catastrophic causes of free intraperitoneal air, we describe the case of a healthy 26-year-old woman who presented to our emergency department (ED) with a nonsurgical and previously unreported cause of pneumoperitoneum. The patient presented to our ED with complaints of shoulder and neck pain several hours after having undergone FemVue ultrasonography (Femasys, Suwanee, GA) for infertility evaluation. The technique uses an air and saline solution mixture injected into the uterine cavity to assess for tubal patency and uterine cavity morphology. Although the cause of her free air and pain was determined to be iatrogenic and ultimately benign, this complication is previously unreported and, without complaints of abdominal pain, presented a diagnostic challenge.
authors: Emergency Trauma Department, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ. Electronic address: danielfrank@hackensackumc.org.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Frank
authors: Emergency Trauma Department, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ.
authors: Eli
authors: E
authors: Gilleran
authors: Emergency Trauma Department, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ.
authors: Kevin
authors: K
authors: Hewitt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology; D011027:Pneumoperitoneum / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014599:Uterus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging