Abstract
A geriatric dog was presented for acute vomiting, anorexia and lethargy. Abdominal ultrasound was suggestive of the presence of gas within the small intestinal walls. Additional abdominal radiographs confirmed the ultrasonographic abnormalities, compatible with pneumatosis intestinalis. Explorative laparotomy revealed hemorrhagic lesions, thickened intestinal walls and serosal discoloration of the jejunum. Partial jejunectomy was performed and histopathology showed findings compatible with atypical bacterial enteritis. The dog recovered completely and did not show any clinical signs during a follow-up period of one year after surgery.
Highlights
Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is an uncommon radiologic finding in humans (Palamidessi, 2011), which has been reported as the presence of air or gas in the submucosa or subserosa of the small intestines (Degner, 1992; Morris, 1992; Pear, 1998; Aste et al, 2005; Song et al, 2013)
PI is subdivided in two groups primary PI, which is benign in nature, and secondary PI, which reflects a pathological, often life-threatening condition (Mitsuyoshi, 2015), requiring aggressive surgical and medical treatment (Hwang et al, 2016; Rajan et al, 2017)
In the majority of cases, the differentiation can be made based on ultrasound or radiography, computed tomography is considered as the gold standard (Di Pietropaolo, 2020)
Summary
Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is an uncommon radiologic finding in humans (Palamidessi, 2011), which has been reported as the presence of air or gas in the submucosa or subserosa of the small intestines (Degner, 1992; Morris, 1992; Pear, 1998; Aste et al, 2005; Song et al, 2013). Distal from this, a strong inhomogeneous shadow artefact or ‘dirty shadow’ was created, indicating abnormal gas content in the more central mural layers The presence of this artefact hampered assessment of the entire jejunal wall at this level (Figure 1). A linear intramural gas opacity was seen in a part of the jejunal loops, parallel with the serosal surface, suspected to be at the level of the more central layers (mucosa and submucosa). At several locations, this linear gas opacity had a mildly undulating appearance, possibly consistent with minimal peristaltism or following. The dog was clinically doing well and did not show any symptoms anymore based on the owners’ experience
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