Postoperative Small Bowel Obstruction in Infants and Children

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Abstract
In the Pediatric Surgical Department of The St. Radboud Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, between Jan. 1970-Dec. 1980, 1476 laparotomies were performed on neonates, infants and children. In 33 of these patients the abdominal surgery was complicated by a postoperative small bowel obstruction (SBO), for which a 2nd laparotomy had to be performed. In 80% of patients this SBO developed within 3 mo. of the prior operation. The risk of developing an adhesive SBO was greater when there was more than one prior peritoneal procedure and when, during this prior procedure, there was already a peritonitis. There was no obvious relation with the nature of the original operation. In > 70% of patients a single adhesion caused the obstruction, while in many of these cases there were already circulatory disturbances, even by early reintervention. The mortality was 6%.