GASTRODUODENAL obstruction is frequently overlooked because of the preponderance of acute intestinal obstruction in the soldier with abdominal wounds. Yet it is in the severely debilitated patient and the patient who has suffered extensive injuries that gastroduodenal obstruction is most likely to occur. It is important that the patient with these acute and subacute obstructions of the duodenum should be recognized, for his management and the ultimate prognosis are different from those of the patient with intestinal obstructions caused by adhesion bands and kinks. The significant points in the diagnosis and management are presented. Although little known and recently even less discussed, there is nothing very new about the complex usually referred to as acute gastric dilatation. It was recognized by Duplay1 as early as 1833. Von Rokitansky2 in 1842 described the fact that the duodenum could be obstructed by the root of the mesentery, producing an acute