Volvulus of the small intestine

A series of seventy-five cases of volvulus of the small intestine are reviewed. There is a 14.2% incidence of this condition among cases of acute intestinal obstruction. It is more common than cecal volvulus but less common than sigmoid volvulus. The patients are usually healthy, poor, adult villagers whose diet is heavy and vegetarian with a high roughage content; they mainly do hard manual work. It is difficult to make a correct preoperative diagnosis. In this series, the percentage of primary volvulus is 73.33% and of secondary is 26.66%. The etiology, incidence, symptomatology and mortality are studied.