Navigating Inconclusive Upper-Gastrointestinal Series in Infantile Bilious Vomiting: A Case Series on Intestinal Malrotation

Abstract

Case series Patients: Female, 1-day-old • Male, 4- month-old • Female, 3-day-old Final Diagnosis: Intestinal malrotation Symptoms: Bilious vomiting Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Pediatrics and Neonatology • Radiology Objective: Unusual clinical course Background: Bilious vomiting in a child potentially portends the dire emergency of intestinal malrotation with volvulus, necessitating prompt surgical management, with differentials including small-bowel atresia, duodenal stenosis, annular pancreas, and intussusception. Although the upper-gastrointestinal series (UGI) is the diagnostic investigation of choice, up to 15% of the studies are inconclusive, thereby posing a diagnostic challenge. Case Reports: We report a case series of 3 children referred for bilious vomiting, whose initial UGI was inconclusive and who were eventually confirmed to have intestinal malrotation at surgery. The first child was a female born at 37 weeks with antenatally diagnosed situs inversus and levocardia, who developed bilious vomiting on day 1 of life. The duodenojejunal flexure (DJ) could not be visualized on the UGI because of faint opacification on first pass of the contrast and subsequent overlap with the proximal jejunal loops. The second child was a male born at 36 weeks, presenting at age 4 months with bilious vomiting of 2 days duration. The third child was a female born at 29 weeks, presenting with bilious aspirates on day 3 of life. UGI for all 3 showed persistent hold-up of contrast at the proximal duodenum with no opacification of the distal duodenum or small bowel. Adjunctive techniques during the UGI and ultrasound examination helped achieve a preoperative diagnosis of malrotation in these children. Conclusions: Application of diagnostic adjuncts to an inconclusive initial UGI may help elucidate a preoperative diagnosis of intestinal malrotation in infantile bilious vomiting.