Small bowel obstruction secondary to transport aircraft: coincidence or reality?

Small bowel obstructions (SBO) are a leading cause of admission to general surgery, posing the problem of the aetiology and treatment based on the diagnosis. More than 300 patients were admitted for SBO in 2011 in our institution. In our clinical practice, we have had to care for patients with SBO immediately after air travel, all of whom had an antecedent of abdominal surgery by laparotomy. The finding of episodes of acute SBO immediately following a commercial flight has never been reported in the literature. We report the cases of four patients for whom we offer several pathophysiological hypotheses, and we publish the first dietary rules for people with a history of intraperitoneal surgery to adopt during a flight.