Deconstructing Dogma: Non-Operative Management of Small Bowel Obstruction in the Virgin Abdomen

Background Management of small bowel obstruction (SBO) has become more conservative, especially in those patients with previous abdominal surgery (PAS). However, surgical dogma continues to recommend operative exploration for SBO with no PAS. With the increased use of CT imaging resulting in more SBO diagnoses, it is important to reevaluate the role of mandatory operative exploration. Gastrografin administration decreases the need for operative exploration and may be an option for SBO without PAS. We hypothesized that the use of GG for SBO without PAS will be equally effective in reducing the operative exploration rate compared to that for SBO with PAS. Methods A post-hoc analysis of prospectively collected data was conducted for patients with SBO from February 2015 through December 2016. Patients

from Emergency Medicine via xlomafota13 on Inoreader https://ift.tt/2qJp2aS