Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis is a disease occurring rarely in man but identified somewhat more frequently in animals, particularly swine. Other names applied to the condition include intestinal emphysema, peritoneal pneumatosis, pneumatosis cystoides intestinorum, and gas cysts of the abdomen. An extensive survey of the literature by Schorr, Ullmann, and Laufer (1) indicates that DuVernoy, in 1738, was the first to describe this disorder, which he perceived while dissecting a cadaver, that Cloquet reported a case in 1820, and that Bang in 1876 wrote of a similar finding at autopsy. In spite of this early recognition, there is a paucity of recorded cases, about 250 in the world literature, of which some 50 are in the English language. Finney (2) described the first American case in 1908. More recently (1952–53) cases were published by Sherwin and Messe (3) and by Appleby (4). In 1949, Gazin, Brooke, Lerner, and Price (5) reported the first preoperative x-ray diagnosis. In 1950, Morgan and Barg (6) re...