[Non-traumatic perforation of the small intestine]

An overview of a series of patients treated for peritonitis over the last 5 years showed that in 64 cases (6.8%) the infection was due to a non traumatic perforation of small intestine. The predominant aetiology was typhoid fever (39 cases), other causes for the peritonitis were perforation of an abdominal diastasis (10 cases) or a Meckel's diverticulum (8 cases), and perforation due to an acute ileitis (2 cases), a non Hodgkins malignant lymphoma (2 cases), a necrotizing enteritis (2 cases) and a jejunal tuberculoma (1 case). The surgical attitude to be adopted for repair of the perforated loop is dependent on the aetiology and the degree of peritoneal sepsis. Enterostomy should be performed as a safety measure in patients with perforation due to typhoid fever.