Small Bowel Obstruction

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A Small Bowel Obstruction (SBO) is when there is a blockage ranging from total or partial obstruction, and is located in the small intestine. This can occur due to a mechanical issue or a paralytic ileus. Symptoms will start to build in pressure resulting in the patient experiencing worsening and severe pain along with being very uncomfortable. A physician will assess the patient looking for signs leading to the source of the abdominal pain. If a hernia or a distended stomach is identified the physician may suspect an obstruction maybe present. After the initial assessment the physician will order some diagnostic imaging, and other tests may be performed diagnosis for a small bowel obstruction can be done along with its location and type. When it’s determined that there is in fact an obstruction surgery more so than not needs to be done, and often times it means there will be emergency surgery. Sometimes a surgery is not necessary if the bowel is twisted it has the possibility of working itself out and being self-limiting; this happens with a few days of bowel rest. The patient will be under strict NPO, and an NG tube placed so that there can be suctioning. Some risk factors for a SBO are “Abdominal or pelvic surgery often causes adhesions a common intestinal obstruction. Crohns disease can cause the intestine's walls to thicken, narrowing the passageway. Cancer in your abdomen, especially if you've had surgery to remove an abdominal tumor or radiation therapy.” (2) Mechanical issues is when there is physically something to cause the obstruction, these would include: “Hernias, scar tissue left behind by operations (adhesions), gallstones, crohn’s disease (an in flammatory bowel condition), small bowel tumor, abnormal growth of tissue adjacent to the small bowel, folding in the wall of the intestine, twisted intestine (volvulus), foreign bodies (something that

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