Sonographic diagnosis of portal venous gas in two pediatric liver transplant patients with benign pneumatosis intestinalis

Penumatosis Intestinalis (gas in the bowell wall) is uncommon in children and is associated with a number of clinical conditions 1] most notably necrotizing enterocolitits in sick neonates. We observed portal venous gas on sonography and benign pneumatosis intestinalis on abdominal raiiography in two children who had recently undergone liver transplantation. Asymptomatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis has not been described previously in pediatric liver transplant patients. It is important to recognize the sonorgaphic appearance of portal venous gas since sonography is the imaging modality most frequently utilized for monitoring the allograft post liver transplantation.