Extensive portal venous gas: Unlikely etiology and outcome

Abstract

Portal venous gas or hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) found on imaging portends grave outcomes for patients suffering from ischemic bowel disease or mesenteric ischemia. HPVG is more rarely seen with severe but treatable abdominal infection as well as multiple benign conditions, and therefore must be aggressively evaluated. We report a 70-year old female who developed extensive intra- and extra-hepatic portal venous gas, pneumatosis intestinalis and free air associated with a perforation of the jejunojejunostomy after a gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma.