Factors associated with bowel necrosis in patients with hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis

Aim: Historically, the presence of hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) and pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) have been reported to be associated with bowel necrosis and fatal outcome. However, there are no criteria to judge whether bowel necrosis has occurred. We aimed to examine the factors associated with bowel necrosis in patients with HPVG and PI. Methods: The study comprised 25 patients who were diagnosed as having HPVG and/or PI based on computed tomography (CT) findings in the Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Kansai Medical University Hospital (Osaka, Japan) between April 2013 and August 2017. We compared various factors, including clinical history, severity of present illness, laboratory data, and CT findings, and examined whether they were related to bowel necrosis. Results: Both Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores and total bilirubin levels were significantly higher in the necrosis group than those in the non-necrosis group (P = 0.03 and P = 0.02, respectively). The quantity of portal venous gas observed on computed tomography was associated with bowel necrosis in patients with HPVG. In contrast, the presence of air-type PI, defined as PI with emphysema covering the total circumference of the intestine in the absence of wall edema, and the presence of free air were significantly higher in the non-necrosis group (both P < 0.01). Conclusions: This study showed that the quantity of HPVG was associated with bowel necrosis, whereas the presence of free air or air-type PI was associated with non-necrosis of the bowel.