Aim:

It seems that, the timing and to decide whether to operate or not to operate are most important issue in the treatment of the patients who have adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO). In this study, we aimed to evaluate our clinic’s experience in the patients who underwent resection or adhesiolysis for ASBO during a six years period.

Material-Methods:

Fifty patients who underwent operation for ASBO in Samsun Training and Research Hospital between December 2008 and December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Comparisons of the statistical analysis of the patients who underwent resection and/or ostomy and only adhesiolysis were evaluated.

Results:

Twelwe patients underwent resection+ anastomosis, four patients underwent ostomy+resection and three patients underwent ostomy. Remaining 31 patients underwent only adhesiolysis. The mean preoperative follow-up time was 2.1 days in the patients who have not resection, while 2.8 days in the patients who have a resection (p=0.324). The mean postoperative hospital stay was found to be significantly longer in the patients who have a resection than the patients who have not resection (11 vs. 7 days, p=0.019). No difference was detected in major morbidity and in-hospital mortality between the two groups (p=0.275, and p=0.620 respectively).

Conclusion:

In the patients who have ASBO, preoperative follow-up time was found to be similar between the patients who have resection and/or ostomy and only adhesiolysis, but, the postoperative hospital stay was found to be significantly longer in the patients who have a resection. However, resection did not showed an increased morbidity in this group of patients.

Keywords: Small bowel obtruction, Adhesiolysis, Resection