Sorting Through the Evidence of Adult Pneumatosis Intestinalis as a Harbinger for Disaster vs Benign Disease

Benign Pneumatosis Intestinalis: Can We Avoid the Knife?

“…Relatively benign conditions that can cause PI include pulmonary diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and the use of corticosteroids or chemotherapeutic agents. 2,3 Pneumatosis is being described with increasing frequency in patients who are immunocompromised secondary to steroid use, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The hypothesis is that the loss of Peyer's patches and intestinal lymphoid tissues allows increased amounts of intraluminal bowel gas to enter the submucosal space.…”