Imaging diagnosis of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: report of a case and review of the literature

Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is familiar to most pediatric and general practitioners, it is a pathology where the radiologist nowadays has a key role confirming the clinical suspicion based in ultrasound and upper-gastrointestinal barium examinations. There is hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the antropyloric portion of the stomach, which becomes abnormally thickened, it manifests as obstruction to gastric emptying. Infants with IHPS are clinically normal at birth, but they develop a nonbilious forceful vomiting during the first weeks of postnatal life, which is described as "projectile". Surgical treatment is curative. The clinical diagnosis hinges on palpation of the thickened pylorus. Imaging findings include the "string sign" (elongation of the pyloric canal) and the "double-track sign" (presence of linear tracts of contrast material separated by the intervening mucosa) on fluoroscopic observation. Sonographic examination demonstrates the thickened prepyloric antrum bridging the duodenal bulb and distended stomach. We present the case of a 26-days-old infant with IHPS; presenting this case we make a brief review of the clinical features and main imaging findings of IHPS.