[Acute gastric dilatation in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy]

A 15 year old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy had severe pain in the lower abdomen and complained of nausea and bilious vomiting. A physical examination and an abdominal X-ray indicated an acute gastric dilation. With a treatment policy of administering nothing orally, a downward-hanging stomach tube and the intravenous administration of fluid the symptoms subsided. In Duchenne muscular dystrophy there may also be atrophy of the smooth muscle layers, in addition to the known progressive atrophy of striated skeletal and cardiac muscle. This may cause clinical dysfunctioning of the gastro-intestinal tract in the second decade of life.