Contemporary Management of Malignant Bowel Obstruction

Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) is a complex problem in patients with advanced malignancies, one that poses difficult decision-making involving a patient's clinical status, extent of disease, and overall goals of care. This article will present common clinical presentations of MBO, initial resuscitation efforts, and helpful diagnostic tools. It will also review the contemporary data on medical, endoscopic, and surgical interventions used for the management of MBO. Our goal is to delineate benefits, common pitfalls, and limiting factors for these interventions while taking into consideration quality of life, patient wishes, and palliative care to support decision-making for clinicians treating patients with MBO.