Massive Idiopathic Pneumoperitoneum in Children: A Case Report

The pneumoperitoneum is the abnormal presence of free air in the peritoneal cavity. In most cases it is related to the perforation of hollow organs. Nevertheless there are cases of pneumoperitoneum without obvious causes called idiopathic. We report a case of massive pneumoperitoneum of radiological discovery in a patient of 16 years old boy, sickle-cell of type SS, during the exploration of an angiocholitis. It was medically treated successfully. No obvious etiology had been found. This particular situation is a dogma which runs up against the classic interventionist spirit; therefore each of pneumoperitoneum needs to be studied case by case. The presence of signs of peritoneal irritation allows surgical exploration. Otherwise, laparoscopy seems to be a minimally invasive surgical method and allows a visual diagnosis by eliminating a hollow organ perforation.