Adhesive Intestinal Obstruction

The aim of this work is study the pattern of intestinal obstruction inZagazig University Hospitals and management of adhesiveintestinal obstruction .Intestinal obstruction in all age groups is one of the most importantsurgical problems facing surgeons . Obstruction of small and largeintestine due to adhesions , hernia and malignancies accounted for (95%)of causes in developed countries ( Zadeh et al., 1995) .Postoperative adhesions are abnormal unions between tissue surfaceswhich occur after almost every intra-abdominal surgical intervention andcan lead to a number of complications (Van et al., 1997).In spite of this, some authors like (Ellis ,1982), advised us to cease toregard the adhesion as evil- the vast majority are harmless and in manyinstances have been protective or even life-saving by prevention of leakagefrom suture lines, obviating necrosis of damaged bowel or walling offinflammatory collections.Various methods and agents have been investigated to preventadhesion formation, but as yet few have been to be effective. (Ivarsson etal., 1997)There is continuing debate among surgeons about whether adhesiveintestinal obstruction is best managed operatively (with laparotomy andlysis of adhesions) or non-operatively (by use of nasogastricdecompression and bowel rest until normal bowel function returns(Ivarsson et al., 1997).Our study for the management of adhesive obstruction wasperformed on thirty patients, 21 males and 9 females their ages rangedfrom 8-60 years with a mean of 38.2 .