TY - JOUR T1 - HEpatic portal venous gas—invited critique AU - Wente MN, Büchler MW Y1 - 2009/06/01 N1 - 10.1001/archsurg.2009.87 JO - Archives of Surgery SP - 581 EP - 581 VL - 144 IS - 6 N2 - According to the given algorithm, the finding of HPVG in abdominal radiographs should lead directly to an emergency laparotomy. This assumption is based on the results of historical reports, in particular the review of the literature by Liebman et al1 with a mortality rate of 75% in patients with HPVG detected on abdominal radiographs published in 1978. It is questionable if this guideline is still applicable because in most departments a CT scan is available in the emergency setting and will be included in the diagnostic workup for most patients before an emergency laparotomy should be performed. SN - 0004-0010 M3 - doi: 10.1001/archsurg.2009.87 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.2009.87 ER -