Results of Treatment of Acute Small Bowel Obstruction

Delay in Operative Treatment among Patients with Small Bowel Obstruction

“…Playforth et al found a significant correlation between mortality and morbidity after operations for SBO and the time from onset of symptoms to hospitalisation and the in-hospital delay (12). A delay in presentation and/or treatment is described as a major prognostic factor for patient outcome in several other studies (1, 4, [13][14][15][16][17][18]. In the present study, the complication and death rates increased with increasing treatment delay (when all patients were analysed (Figure 3)).…”

Strangulation Obstruction of the Small Intestine

“…The latter approach of necessity is based on the premise that the clinical recognition of the presence of strangulation is precise, since this type of obstruction is uniformly fatal without operation. The proponents of primary nonoperative therapy of intestinal obstruction [1][2][3][4] indicate that careful and frequent evaluation of the patient, continually observing for tenderness, rigidity, hypoperistalsis, the presence of a mass, fever, tachycardia, and leukocytosis will result in the correct diagnosis of strangulation in the vast majority of cases. On the other hand, advocates of a basically surgical approach to the treatment of obstruction of the small intestine dispute this contention.5-10 The present study has been carried out to ascertain the reliability of various criteria used to aid in the diagnosis of strangulation and to evaluate the therapeutic approach to acute intestinal ob¬ struction in the light of these findings.…”

A Review of Thirty‐nine Cases

“…incidence of volvulus in this series of acute mechanical small bowel obstruction was higher than that usually reported in similar series from the United States of America where it varies from 1.3 to 4 per cent. (Wangansteen, 1946; Bollinger and Fowler, 1953; Drugas and Schiff, 1954).…”