Figure 1.

The serial chest and abdominal X-ray findings during the observation period. No abnormal findings were detectable on admission (A). On hospital day 40 (B), streaky lucencies over the mediastinum (narrow arrows) that extended into the neck (arrowhead) and remarkable gaseous distention of the bowel (wide arrows) were demonstrated by a routine chest and abdominal X-ray, respectively. These radiological findings, with slight improvement, were noted on hospital day 44 (C), followed by further improvements on hospital day 50 (D) and 57 (E) despite the resumption of dietary intake on hospital day 49.