ABSTRACT
A A 2-year-old boy has been sent in as an emergency with vomiting for 24 hours. According to the parents, the vomitus was greenish to start with but over the past few hours has consisted of dirty brownish fluid. There has been no bowel action. On examination the child looks toxic and is dehydrated — sunken eyes, depressed fontanelles, loss of skin turgor. There is a tympanitic abdomen with a red, irreducible swelling in the left groin not noticed by the parents.
