Gastric emphysema: a case report of an elderly female patient with vomiting

Abstract

Gastric emphysema is the presence of air in the stomach wall. it is rare radiological sign. Different etiological factors associated such as gastric outlet obstruction, trauma, severe vomiting, air from the mediastinum, and or ischemia.  The management is by different approaches depending on the underlying cause. Only a few cases published in the literature about gastric emphysema, so we published our rare case including our approach to such a disease with achievable outcomes. 88 years old female presented complaining of nausea and vomiting with stable vital signs and computed tomography (CT) findings of diffused gastric submucosal oedema and emphysematous changes appear as a linear distribution with portal vein gas involving the left hepatic lobe which was treated conservatively with successful outcome. Gastric emphysema is rare, and non-infectious entity, it is a benign condition. The patients usually present with mild, non-specific vague mild, or moderate symptoms, like epigastric pain and vomiting. The diagnosis is made by radiological studies. Initially, a plain abdominal X-ray may show gastric distension. Confirming study by CT, which is the study of choice. It has an excellent prognosis with conservative management, long-term complications are rare and complete resolution is usually achieved with conservative management, although there are few cases of recurrent disease reported in the literature.