Small Bowel Obstruction. A Prospective Multicener Study

To get an overview of patients hospitalized with mechanical small bowel obstruction and the evaluate the use of contrast media as part of conservative management. To analyze how many patients were operated on and in how many cases conservative measures helped.

This is a multicenter prospective study conducted at two regional hospitals of Estonia: Tartu University Hospital and North Estonian Medical Center. The data of the patients' hospitalized for SBO between May 2021 and April 2022 were collectedafter patients gave their informed consent to be enrolled in the study. Eligible patients were adults aged 18 years or older with mechanical small bowel obstruction. Patients younger than 18 years, patients with large bowel obstruction or dynamic small bowel obstruction and/or patients who had undergone abdominal/pelvic surgery within 4 weeks of admission were excluded from the study. Characteristics of abdominal pain (absent/intermittent/permanent), presence of nausea/vomiting, absence of flatus, results of blood tests (white blood cell count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate level (Lac), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)), radiology imaging techniques used, previous abdominal/pelvic surgeries, previous episodes of bowel obstruction. It was documented whether immediate surgical treatment was implemented, or whether conservative management was initiated. In the case of conservative treatment, it was recorded whether contrast media (CM) was or was not used. In the case of surgical treatment, the type of surgery (adhesiolysis/ bowel resection/ other) was recorded.