Mesenteric vascular gas secondary to ischemic bowel in transmesenteric hernia.

A transmesenteric herniation of bowel with subsequent bowel ischemia in a thirteen-year-old boy is reported. Radiographic findings were that of abdominal mass and branching radiolucencies secondary to gas within the mesenteric vasculature. The unusual distribution of vascular gas (mesenteric rather than portal) is thought to be secondary to obstruction of mesenteric veins by strangulation.