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Pneumoperitoneum in a patient with lymphangiomyomatosis

K Tamura1, Y Satoh, A Ikoma

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Miyazaki Prefectural Hospital, Japan.

A 32-year-old Japanese housewife with a 2-year history of retroperitoneal and pulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis had a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain. Chest X-ray and plain abdominal films showed free air under the diaphragm and a small pneumothorax in the left lower pleural space. Emergency laparotomy revealed no perforated viscera, but there was a rupture in the mid-portion of the left diaphragm. It appears that increasing pressure in the left pneumothorax burst the left diaphragm leading to pneumoperitoneum.

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