Evaluation of small bowel measurement in alive patients

Based on the importance of bowel length in massive bowel resection, the aim of this study is to evaluate the small bowel length in patients who had laparotomy.

In this study, 100 consecutive adults (age >/= 20 years old) who underwent laparotomy were studied. Patients with peritonitis, intra-abdominal infection, bowel obstruction and ascitis were excluded. For comparison we used 30 cadavers as control group after case control matching. Under general anesthesia and after opening of abdomen, bowel length was measured by an umbilical tape from Treitz' ligament to ileocecal valve, antimesentrically. Data such as age, sex, height, weight and bowel length were measured and analyzed.

Between May 2007 and December 2007, 100 patients (54 males and 46 females) aged 20-43 years were studied. The small bowel length was 459.6 +/- 78.47 cm in patients and 632.5 +/- 88.9 cm in cadavers (P < 0.01). Small bowel length was 452.2 +/- 79.36 cm in males and 468.2 +/- 80.44 cm in females (P = NS). Jejunum length was 140.2 +/- 45.4 cm in males and 138.6 +/- 40.2 cm in females (P = NS). Ileum length was 286.3 +/- 34.7 cm in males and 289.9 +/- 37.8 cm in females (P = NS).

In this study, we report a measurement of the length of small bowel more accurate than the estimation given by the classical anatomic books. In our study, there was no correlation between bowel length and age, gender, height and weight.