Accidental small-bowel puncture, and importance of patient positioning, during isotopic peritoneography: a case...

A 47-y-old woman with chronic liver disease, who had previously undergone placement of a peritoneal venous shunt without ascites, presented with a chronic right pleural effusion. The first attempt at radionuclide injection resulted in an accidental small-bowel injection with consequent intraalimentarily induced nuclear small-bowel followthrough. I have not read of this interesting complication in the literature. She did not have a bowel obstruction. A repeated study 2 d later demonstrated an obstructed peritoneal shunt and right hemidiaphragmatic pleural leak best seen with the patient upright.