Scanty intestinal gas in infants and children. Clinical significance and radiologic diagnosis.

A material of 23 boys and 18 girls attending as abdominal emergencies and covering the age interval of neonates to 15 years of age had only scanty amounts of intestinal gas on films of the abdomen. A wide variety of underlying abnormalities were revealed, some of them calling for immediate operation. Supplementary contrast examinations were frequently needed in order to establish the diagnosis.