The research aims to make a statistical approach to the causes of mechanical
intestinal obstruction by its incidence and demonstrating the importance of early diagnosis
in improving the outcome of management.
The study included 287 adults patient
admitted in the department of surgery at ALASSAD
University Hospital in Lattakia, due to mechanical intestinal obstruction, from the
beginning of January 2010 until the end of August 2015.186 of patients were males and
101 were females. The obstruction was in the small bowel at 253 patients, while there were
34 cases in the large bowel. The patients ages were between 21-88 years and almost half
of the patients were in their third and fourth decades of life. The most important symptom
was stopping the release of gas and feces and was found in 86.7% of cases. The abdomen
X-ray was the most diagnostic procedure we used, it was done for 98% of patients.
Adhesions were the most common cause of intestinal obstruction (73.51%), it followed by
hernias (12.19%), tumors (6.28%), while the rest of the reasons like volvulus,
intussusception, Crohn's disease and diverticulitis were amounted (8%) of patients.
