Use of the long tube in the management of patients with small-intestinal obstruction due to adhesions.

Abstract

A retrospective analysis was performed of all patients admitted to our hospital over a six-year period with a diagnosis of small-intestinal obstruction due to adhesions, to assess the efficacy of treatment with long-tube decompression. Of 127 episodes of obstruction, two thirds responded to nonoperative treatment. Factors that were associated with a greater likelihood of success with long-tube decompression included incomplete obstruction, recurrent obstruction, and passage of the tube beyond the pylorus. Clinical findings were relatively reliable as diagnostic indicators of strangulation. The overall mortality was 1.5%, with no deaths due to a delay in operative intervention. A trial of long-tube decompression is recommended in patients presenting with a diagnosis of small-intestinal obstruction due to adhesions in the absence of clinical evidence of strangulation.

• Authors: P J Wolfson, J J Bauer, I M Gelernt, I Kreel, A H Aufses Jr
• Journal: Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill. : 1960) (Arch Surg) Vol. 120 Issue 9 Pg. 1001-6 (Sep 1985) ISSN: 0004-0010 [Print] United States
• PMID: 4026552 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Constriction, Pathologic (diagnosis)
• Female
• Humans
• Intestinal Diseases (complications, diagnosis)
• Intestinal Obstruction (etiology, surgery, therapy)
• Intestine, Small
• Intubation (methods)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Postoperative Complications
• Prognosis
• Recurrence
• Retrospective Studies
• Risk
• Tissue Adhesions (complications, diagnosis)