Late small bowel obstruction after blunt abdominal trauma
- Department of Surgery, University of the West Indies, General Hospital, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies
- Correspondence to: Dr Maharaj; dalemaharaj{at}hotmail.com
- Received 17 May 2002
- Accepted 27 August 2002
Abstract
Blunt abdominal trauma with intraperitoneal injury usually presents acutely. On rare occasions, such patients can present later on with features of small bowel obstruction due to stricture formation. It is thought that such a delayed stricture is due to subclinical bowel perforation, localised gut ischaemia, or injury to the mesenteric vasculature. This case demonstrates the mesenteric vascular injury theory to be the cause of the bowel stricture.
