Laparoscopic management of adhesive acute postoperative small bowel obstruction

Abstract

Laparoscopic management of postoperative acute adhesive small bowel obstruction (SBO) may often have clinical advantages. This prospective study included patients with postoperative acute SBO in whom sufficient intestinal decompression was achieved using a nasoenteric ileus tube preoperatively, but pass disorder was not improved. This study describes our experience with the laparoscopic procedure for patients with adhesive acute SBO. The laparoscopic approach was undertaken in 24 of 51 patients admitted for acute postoperative SBO from July 1994 through June 2000; it was performed successfully in 20 patients (83%), and four cases were converted to open surgery (17%) because of strong adhesions. In four patients with gallstones and inguinal hernia, laparoscopic surgery (cholecystectomy, hernioplasty) was performed simultaneously. There was no mortality and low morbidity (4.1%). The group of patients treated laparoscopically had a shorter hospital stay than the conventional open group (12 versus 21 days; p < 0.05). At the median follow-up of 84 months, 21 of the 22 patients who had received laparoscopic procedure remained asymptomatic. Laparoscopic treatment was effective, involved a shorter hospital stay and has shown good long-term results for most patients with adhesive acute SBO.