title: Mechanical bowel obstruction: the Chandigarh experience.
abstract: Intestinal obstruction is a fairly common surgical emergency in India, but there is little data available regarding the spectrum of intestinal obstruction in India, or its related complications. This paper represents a retrospective review of 97 patients who underwent surgery for intestinal obstruction at Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India, over four years (1997-2000). The case files of all these patients were reviewed and analysed for patient particulars, pre-operative clinical examination and investigations, intraoperative findings, final diagnosis, post-operative morbidity, and mortality. The mean age of our patients was 39.46 years, with an overall male to female ratio of 2.46:1. Most of the patients were in the age group of 17 to 60 years (62.89%). A total of 107 causes for the obstruction could be identified at surgery, with intra-abdominal adhesions and bands (27.10%) being the commonest followed by obstructed herniae (22.43%). Strangulation was present in 21 patients at the time of surgery. This group of patients had a significantly higher post-operative morbidity than patients with simple obstruction, although no statistically significant difference was seen in between the mortality rates in these two groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 B, Chandigarh, 160 047, India. tdyadav@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Attri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000150:complications