Idiopathic Pneumoperitoneum in a Premature Infant

ABSTRACT

Pneumoperitoneum is generally a surgical emergency that needs immediate surgical intervention to improve survival in neonates. Its main etiologies include necrotizing enterocolitis, secondary meconium ileus, intestinal obstruction, or various other causes such as gastric perforation from the insertion of a nasogastric tube. However, pneumoperitoneum can rarely present without any gastrointestinal perforation. This condition has been called nonsurgical, asymptomatic, benign, misleading, spontaneous, or idiopathic pneumoperitoneum. In this report, a rare case of pneumoperitoneum in a premature infant is presented, the definite cause of which was not found even after an explorative laparotomy.