Does pneumatosis intestinalis always mean mesenteric ischemia in case of feeding jejunostomy?

Mesenteric ischemia is a surgical emergency and accounts for approximately 1% of acute abdomen hospitalizations. Identification of mesenteric ischemia is challenging because of the wide variability of symptoms and non-specific laboratory finding. The only test to find mesenteric ischemia with a high-sensitivity and specificity is abdominal computed tomography scan with arterial phase. Pneumatosis intestinalis is one of the major computed tomography scan signs to diagnosis mesenteric ischemia. We report a retrospective study of six Intensive Care Unit patients in whom abdominal computed tomography scan performed for a deterioration of the clinical status, found pneumatosis intestinalis on on overall population of thirty-four patients. These patients had a feeding jejunostomy tube insertion in their recent medical history. In this study, we report our management faced with pneumatosis intestinalis and show that feeding jejunostomy tube could be associated with pneumatosis intestinalis without obvious mesenteric ischemia.