A precocious vomiting: the early sign of bowel atresia

Key words: Foetal vomiting, Duodenal atresia

Small bowel atresia is a congenital obstruction of the lumen of the duodenum, jejunum or ileum and is one of the most common causes of neonatal bowel obstruction. It usually arises with vomiting in the first 48 h of life, but more and more frequently it is detected by prenatal ultra-sound. Any suspicion of this diagnosis mandates emergency investigation and/or operative intervention. The paper reports a case of duodenal atresia suspected during the third month of gestation for polydramnios and foetal vomiting, promptly confirmed and treated after birth.