[Differential surgical treatment of ileus of the large intestine]

This is a report about 191 patients with colonic obstruction who were operatively treated between 1984 and 1988. A resection of the tumour was carried out in 106 cases while the other patients underwent palliative surgical treatment for various reasons. - A traditional surgical concept proved to be most satisfactory despite the modern forms of treatment such as primary subtotal colectomy, intraoperative lavage of the colon with resection and primary anastomosis, the internal bypass or preoperative laser dilatation. According to this concept tumours of the right half of the colon are primarily resected in the form of a right hemicolectomy; tumours of the left flexure undergo a two stage and those distal to the left flexure a three stage procedure. These principles were consistently applied in our patients and this resulted in an operative mortality of 0% after excluding patients who had a primary septic condition. In contrast, the operative mortality in the patients who were septic because of a colonic perforation (n = 23) was 47.8%. The worst prognosis could be found in cases with a perforation away from the tumour in the oral overdistended bowel such as coecum and ascending (n = 12). Here, the mortality was even 75% while true tumour perforations - which were usually sealed off - had a mortality of only 10% (n = 10). The main problem in the treatment of colonic obstruction, therefore, seems to be the patients who have a concomitant septic condition.