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Article: Re: The etiology of intestinal obstruction in patients without prior laparotomy or hernia / Author's response
- Article from:
- The American Surgeon
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright The Southeastern Surgical Congress Apr 1999. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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To the Editor.
In their report on the etiology of intestinal obstruction in patients without prior laparotomy or hernia, McCloy et al.' reported that 50 per cent of these patients had an underlying malignancy as a cause of the obstruction. However, this retrospective study has excluded a subset of patients where the cause of obstruction remains unknown because they settled and did not come to exploratory surgery.
In a 1-year prospective study of intestinal obstruction in patients without prior laparotomy or hernia at my institution, 34 of the 54 patients studied required a laparotomy during the same admission. Seventeen patients had an underlying colorectal carcinoma, and another three ...