A one-day-old boy in India was admitted to intensive care with mild swelling of his scrotum and trouble breathing. The first ultrasound pointed to hydroceles, fluid pockets that are common and usually harmless in newborns. But fluid was not causing the swelling. It was air that had escaped from a 2- to 3-centimeter hole in his colon and traveled down into his scrotum.
Pediatricians at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Wardha, Maharashtra, described the case in the September 2026 issue of the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. The report shows how a swelling that looks benign at the bottom of a baby's body can be the first visible sign of an emergency higher up.
