Conservative treatment of early postoperative small bowel obstruction with obliterative peritonitis

Figure 3 Intraoperative photo of a patient who developed early postoperative small bowel obstruction with obliterative peritonitis. The 40-year-old male had a colostomy and patch-repair (arrow) of the abdominal defect after open abdomen due to trauma. He required closure of the stoma 6 months after colostomy. On operation, dense matted adhesions were found, especially beneath the patch, and full enterolysis resulted in extensive intestinal deserosalization (A). An intestinal splinting was performed (B). On postoperative day (POD) 10 the tube was removed, and he had a temporary return of bowel function but early postoperative small bowel obstruction with obliterative peritonitis on POD 15.