Abstract

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous gastric perforation is a rare clinical disorder. The majority of the available data have been reported in the neonatal age group. There are a few cases of spontaneous gastric perforation in preschool children. To our knowledge, there is no published information on spontaneous gastric perforation in older children and adolescents.

CASE REPORT: We describe the presentation and clinical course of two adolescent children who presented with spontaneous gastric perforation. Both children presented with acute onset abdominal pain, which progressively worsened. In both cases, the patient were taken urgently to the operating room after imaging studies had shown pneumoperitoneum. In both cases, surgery revealed gastric perforation with no obvious etiology, specifically no ­ulcer, inflammation, or other pathology.

CONCLUSIONS: These two cases highlight the importance of including spontaneous gastric perforation, not just the typical duodenal/gastric ulcer, in the differential of a patient with severe abdominal pain and distension, who has imaging showing pneumoperitoneum.

Keywords: Adolescent, Pneumoperitoneum, Rupture, Spontaneous