Thj. Florin et Ba. Hills, DOES COUNTERPERFUSION SUPERSATURATION CAUSE GAS CYSTS IN PNEUMATOSIS CYSTOIDES COLI, AND CAN BREATHING HELIOX REDUCE THEM, Lancet, 345(8959), 1995, pp. 1220-1222
The pathogenesis of pneumatosis cystoides coli remains obscure in the
absence of an explanation for why pockets of gas should form in the fi
rst place and why they should be maintained in the wall and mesentery
of the colon. Counterperfusion supersaturation could explain the forma
tion and location of the gas cysts, which occur mostly near brood vess
els on the mesenteric border of the colon, and the absence of methane
gas in them. The hypothesis can be tested by treating patients with pn
eumatosis cystoides coli with heliox.