Surgical versus non-surgical management of bowel obstruction: A comparative study

Abstract

Bowel obstruction is a severe medical complication that has to be addressed promptly and planned efficiently in order to prevent the developments of complications like ischemia, perforation and sepsis. This paper aims to explore and compare surgical and non-surgical management of SMA including resolution rate, complications, cost implication, hospital stay and patient satisfaction. Two hundred patients with bowel obstruction were randomly assigned to receive one of the two management strategies over the 12-month study period, and were followed for 6 months after discharge. These findings suggest the importance of patient-specific tailored therapeutic management and clinical characteristics of each patient.