A STUDY OF INTESTINAL SPLINTING FOR OPERATION OF INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION DUE TO ADHESION

Abstract

The intestinal splinting has been retrospectively evaluated for postoperative results in 50 patients operated on for intestinal obstruction due to adhesion, based on longtem observation as longest as 15 years.
The 50 cases were compared with 44 undergone freeing of adhesions alone and 19 undergone the freeing plus excision of the intestine. Recurrent rate was as lowest as 4.0% in intestinal splinting group, versus 15.9% in freeing alone group and 5.3% in freeing plus excision group. Postoperative complications developed in 3 cases in intestinal splinting group, however, all of them were reliaved. No death cases due to the splinting were observed. A follow-up study of 38 cases including a case of which observation could be continued during 15 years as the longest period revealed favorable postoperative courses in all the subjects. From these findings, the intestinal splinting appears to be a convinient and useful method for preventing the recurrence of adhesive ileus.