Radiographic diagnosis of meconium peritonitis. A report of 200 cases including six fetal cases

Abstract

The radiographic findings of 200 cases of meconium peritonitis were analyzed; 194 cases were discovered in newborn infants and six cases in fetuses. The radiographic features in the newborn group could be categorized as pneumoperitoneum with intestinal obstruction (adhesions) and calcification (35 cases), intestinal obstruction with calcification (143 cases), intestinal obstruction with no radiographically visible calcification (5 cases), and calcification alone (11 cases). All six cases of the fetal group were diagnosed when the mothers had been hospitalized for polyhydramnios and a plaque-like or ring-like calcification showed up in the fetal abdomen on the plain radiograph. Meconium peritonitis is one of the few conditions that can be diagnosed before birth and is almost the only condition around the time of birth to produce calcification in the abdomen. Therefore, if there is any sign of polyhydramnios, radiographs or ultrasonograms of the maternal abdomen should be obtained to detect any calcification within the peritoneal cavity of the fetus. A simple experiment carried out in rats showed that it takes at least eight days after the meconium escapes into the peritoneal cavity for calcification in the meconium to be radiographically demonstrable.