Pneumoperitoneum as a diagnostic procedure has been practised for many years but there is a reluctance to make use of it. The author believes that this is due in some degree to lack of clearly defined indications and partly to lack of confidence in the safety of the procedure. In this paper the technique of diagnostic pneumoperitoneum is described and the risks are examined. Indications for its use are described. Finally, three case histories of special relevance are described and a summary of the results is tabulated with a view of giving an estimate of the diagnostic value which may be expected.
气腹作为一种诊断方法已应用多年，但人们不太愿意使用它。作者认为，这在一定程度上是由于缺乏明确界定的适应症，部分原因是对该操作的安全性缺乏信心。本文描述了诊断性气腹的技术并对风险进行了研究。阐述了其使用适应症。最后，描述了三个具有特殊相关性的病例史，并将结果汇总列表，以期对预期的诊断价值进行评估。
