An Observational Study on Intestinal Obstruction at Tertiary Care Hospital of North East India

Introduction: Intestinal obstruction (IO) is one of the most common surgical emergency worldwide which is predisposed by varying underlying anomalies and diseases, which are difficult to define preoperatively. Since there was lack of data of IO in north eastern part of India hence we planned to determine the causes of intestinal obstruction, clinical presentation and age related factors and management of intestinal obstruction which might give insight for better patient outcome. Materials and Methods: The present study was a Prospective observational study which was conducted from December 2022 to November 2023 at Department of General Surgery in tertiary care hospital of Assam, India. Total 60 patients with clinical and radiological findings of IO were included in this study. Results: The study showed peak incidence of IO in the age group of 31- 40 years of 21.7% and 41 to 50 years of 21.7 %. The male to female ratio was 1.14:1. In our study, Majority of patients presented with Pain abdomen 57 (95.0%) and distension 53(88.3%). most common diagnosis in IO was adhesion which were present in 31.7% patients whereas Mesenteric ischemia were only in 1.7 % patients. The most common USG findings was Distended small bowel (DSB) which were present in 40.0% patients. Majority of patients (28.4 %) were treated conservatively and 71.6% patient of the IO undergone operative procedure, among which 18% underwent adhesiolysis, 20% underwent Resection and anastomosis. Conclusion: Early recognition and aggressive treatment are crucial in preventing irreversible ischemia and transmural necrosis and thereby in decreasing mortality and long-term morbidity. The evaluation of patients with suspected bowel obstruction endeavours not only to confirm the diagnosis but also to determine the need for and timing of surgery.