Spontaneous rupture of the stomach in the newborn: clinical and experimental evaluation.

Our study presents an experimental model for studying gastric rupture in the newborn. We showed that gastric rupture could be produced in eight newborn rodents and in three puppies less than 10 days old after injection of 120 ml air at 100 mm Hg pressure in the rodents and 175 ml air at 240 mm Hg pressure in the puppies. Gastric rupture occurred with animals supine and with approximately 20 ml barium injected into the stomach. Positioning of the animal in the supine position permitted the barium to pool in the antral-pyloric region of the stomach.