Massive Pneumoperitoneum during Gastroscopy Treated by Needle Puncture of the Abdomen

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Abstract
GASTROSCOPY with the flexible, finger-tip instrument is, as a rule, an innocuous diagnostic procedure. The sudden onset of pneumoperitoneum during the course of this examination, however, is a complication that is usually distressing to the patient and alarming to the examiner. Although occasionally the condition is unsuspected until the examination has been concluded, usually the gastroscopist is immediately apprised of the accident by his inability to inflate the stomach with air or by the collapse of the stomach that had been inflated. Simultaneously, the abdomen becomes distended and tympanitic, with loss of liver dullness. The discomfort of the patient varies . . .