Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) and pneumoperitoneum are commonly recognized as severe signs of gastrointestinal diseases that require emergency surgery. However, these symptoms can also be caused by benign conditions. We describe 4 cases of benign PI and pneumoperitoneum that were detected in different clinical situations (accidental discovery in bilan of aortic dissection (case #1), bilateral pulmonary embolism (case #2), overflow diarrhea due to fecal impaction (case #3), and in follow-up postbiliary digestive anastomosis surgery (case #4), which were addressed with exploratory surgery (case #1) or conservative treatment (the remaining cases), with favorable outcomes. Because PI and pneumoperitoneum can be associated with both life-threatening causes and benign conditions, treatment decisions should be based on the correspondence between clinical and paraclinical features, rather than imaging alone
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Foreign body (FB) ingestion is a common condition encountered in clinical practice, especially among the pediatric age group; however, this occurrence is rare among adults. Some FBs can induce the perforation of the gastrointestinal tract, including fish bones, chicken bones and toothpicks. The ingestion of FBs is rarely associated with bowel perforation, and most FBs are passed spontaneously. The ingestion of sharp and pointed objects typically produces adverse events related to the upper gastrointestinal system, and FBs are rarely retained in the colon. Bowel perforation caused by the ingestion of FBs should be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. Here, we present the unusual case of a 51-year-old male who presented to the emergency room with complaints of acute abdominal pain secondary to fish bone ingestion, which triggered cecum perforation.
The typical distinction between cerebellopontine angle (CPA) medulloblastoma and other primary CPA tumors was not fully known. While CPA medulloblastoma is very uncommon, it should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients with CPA tumors.
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