Clinical Profile And Outcome Of Subacute Intestinal Obstruction: A Hospital Based Prospective Observational Study
Sunil Kumar Patanaik1
, Chaitali Pattanayak2*, Vartika Srivastava2 and Sougata Sarkar31Department of Surgery, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Bhubaneswar, India
2Department of Pharmacology, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Bhubaneswar, India.
3Dept of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, School of tropical medicine, Kolkata, India.
Corresponding author E-mail: chaitali.pattanayak@kims.ac.in
Abstract: Intestinal obstruction is one of the commonest surgical emergencies in all age groups. The diagnosis of intestinal obstruction at times poses a difficult problem, especially in those patients who present as subacute intestinal obstruction (SAIO) with atypical features due to which the diagnosis is delayed. SAIO implies incomplete obstruction. Intermittent nature of symptoms and signs delays diagnosis as well as definitive treatment. This study was undertaken to determine the possible clinical profile of this difficult and confusing entity. 57 patients above 10 years of age presenting with subacute intestinal obstruction were studied from July 2018 to December 2019 in a multispeciality hospital in eastern part of India. Patients with acute intestinal obstruction and bowel strangulation were excluded from this study. Males were more affected than the females. Abdominal pain was the commonest symptom seen in 51 (89.4%) patients, followed by non-passage of faeces / flatus in 45 patients (78.9%) and vomiting seen in 39 (68.4%) patients. About 28 patients (49.1%) had undergone previous abdominal surgery, out of which 25 patients were operated for laparotomy. Out of the 57 patients, surgery was needed to relieve obstruction in 18 (31.6%) patients, the remaining 39 patients (68.4%) were managed conservatively. Most commonly performed procedure was adhesiolysis in 12 patients. Subacute intestinal obstruction continues to be one of the most common abdominal problems faced by general surgeons. Early clinical recognition, diagnostic tools and timely management are extremely important in diagnosing this clinical entity, thereby reducing mortality and long-term morbidity.
Keywords: Adhesions; Strictures; Subacute Intestinal Obstruction Back to TOC