Significance of intrapancreatic gas demonstrated by CT: a review of nine cases.

Nine patients with intrapancreatic air were encountered among 450 patients evaluated for pancreatic pathology. Eight of these patients had surgically proven pancreatic abscesses. The ninth had spontaneous perforation of a pancreatic pseudocyst into the gastrointestinal tract as an explanation of the intrapancreatic air. Computer tomography has been found to be very helpful, not only in the initial diagnosis of pancreatic abscessses, but also in the evaluation of distant spread of the infection. The presence of intrapancreatic air in our experience is the most reliable sign of a pancreatic abscess.