Obstructive Lesions of the Small Intestine

Abstract

Adhesions were the cause of obstruction of the small intestine in 71 of 178 cases treated surgically in a private hospital. Strangulated hernia accounted for 65 cases. The reasons for the apparent trend away from hernia and toward adhesions as the major cause of intestinal obstruction probably are the greater number of intraabdominal operations being performed (particularly pelvic operations) and earlier treatment of hernia. The large number of patients with postoperative adhesions emphasizes the responsibility of surgeons to pay strict attention to technical details and handle tissues gently. The over-all mortality rate for the series of 178 cases was 1.7 per cent; there were no deaths among a personal series of 109 cases.