[Acute pseudo-obstruction of the colon (clinical cases)]

The Authors report 4 cases of Ogilvie's syndrome come to their observation during the last 5 years by the clinical surgery II of the I.R.C.C.S. Polyclinic "San Matteo" of Pavia. Remembering the infrequency of the affection and the controversial etiopathogenesis theories, the Authors study the clinical picture and the diagnostic problems, pointing out how some researches, especially radiological and endoscopical, permit to obtain a therapeutic solution of the syndrome. They underline the colonic perforation risk, certainly overestimated, and they show the therapeutic, medical or surgical, orientations, according to the evolution of the illness, the anatomic situations and the general conditions of the patient.