When small bowel obstruction is demonstrated clinically or radiographically to be complete, operation is advocated because of the demonstrated association of strangulation obstruction with complete obstruction and the difficulty of diagnosing strangulation obstruction. Short observation periods, fluoroscopic procedures, and cross-sectional imaging are used in treatment of partial obstruction by those who believe that observation is futile or dangerous. This approach holds that few patients resolve after a day or two of observation; if this premise were true, protracted observation should see few patients resolve and some require resection for necrotic bowel after failed observation. Observer bias and the spectrum of nonnecrotic ischemia makes end-point analysis after laparotomy difficult to interpret; few criteria or incentives exist for a surgeon to speculate that a patient brought to surgery might have recovered without it.

I reviewed the clinical courses of 413 obstructed patients seen over 13 years.

Seventy-two patients underwent immediate treatment for complete obstruction, 294 resolved without operation, and 47 patients required operation after a period of observation ranging from 3 to 15 days. All observed patients were followed using clinical examination, leukocyte count, and plain film radiography only. No bowel resections were required in patients who were observed.

Research opportunities exist for use of alternatives to plain film imaging in treatment of partial small bowel obstruction, but this series does not support the premise that there is a risk for bowel ischemia or bowel resection by observing patients with partial small bowel obstruction or by following them with plain films alone. Indeed, such a strategy resulted in resolution in 294 of 341 patients so treated, with readmission and reoperation rates comparable with those reported in series in which earlier operation was undertaken.