Major causes of intestinal obstruction in Libya

The object of this study is to focus attention on the causes of intestinal obstruction in Libya. In this study, spread over 30 months and involving 114 patients, the most common cause was the entrapment of bowel in an external hernia. Postoperative adhesions accounted for obstruction in a third of our patients, and 59 per cent of them followed appendicectomy. Biliary lithiasis is the most common surgical disease in Libya, yet there was only one instance of gallstone ileus in this series. Sigmoid volvulus and intestinal lymphoma were also rare, and tubercular stricture and Crohn's disease were remarkable by their absence. There were no cases of idiopathic intussusception during or immediately following Ramadan.