VOLVULUS is defined by Laurell1 as a torsion of the bowel on its mesentery which produces symptoms due to narrowing, strangulation or both. The geographic incidence of volvulus varies. In middle Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and India it is a rather common cause of intestinal obstruction, whereas in western Europe, the United Kingdom and North America it is encountered infrequently. According to Wangensteen,2 about 10 per cent of all intestinal obstructions in this country are secondary to volvulus. Since the sigmoid is involved in not more than 20 per cent of these, volvulus of the sigmoid, then, should account for not more than 2 per cent of all intestinal obstructions. Statistical data from the more recent American literature tend to confirm this figure of 2 per cent. THE PRESENT STUDY: MATERIALS AND METHODS This study comprised an analysis of the records of 16 patients who had volvulus of the