Small Bowel Obstruction: Epidemiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects in the General Surgery Department of Hôpital Sominé DOLO de Mopti

Abstract

Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is defined as a complete and persistent cessation of the transit of materials and gases. It occurs in a segment of the digestive tract located between the pylorus and the colorectal junction. We report an observational study which aims to describe the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects of small bowel obstruction. This study was carried out in the General Surgery Department of Hôpital Sominé DOLO de Mopti from October 1, 2016 to October 1, 2018. A total of 114 patients was recorded for whom the diagnosis was related to an occlusion. The median age was 37 years with extremes ranging from 6 months to 90 years. Male sex was predominant with a sex-ratio of 1.8. The frequency of small bowel occlusions over all occlusions was 74.03%. The most encountered clinical signs were as followed: abdominal pain (100%), vomiting (88.6%), cessation of materials and gas (79.9%) and meteorism (62.3%). All patients underwent medical imaging, the most common of which was an abdomen without preparation X-ray (AWP). On the etiological level, the main causes found postoperatively were: flanges and adhesion (55.2%), strangulated hernias (28.0%), acute intussusception (6.1%), small bowel volvulus (3.5%) and small bowel tumor (1.6%). Releasing the bridles was the most common surgery process (28.0%). The morbidity of the immediate follow-up was (13.1%) and the mortality was (7.0%). This high mortality is due to ignorance of the signs of seriousness and the socio-cultural barrier (decision of the patriarch to agree to a surgical intervention), the late use of hospital facility and the limited financial capability of the patients.