STUDIES IN INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION

Abstract

In both the patient and the experimental animal, strangulating types of obstruction are the most serious. In addition to the occlusion of the bowel in strangulation obstruction a segment of intestine is deprived of its blood supply. The poorer prognosis and quicker fatal issue in such instances are due to the injury of the strangulated loop. A study of strangulation obstruction, therefore, resolves itself into an inquiry into the autolysis of injured segments of intestine. It has been demonstrated in another study¹ that segments of intestine deprived of their blood supply undergo a rapid autolysis, with the liberation of toxic substances. In a few dogs in which strangulation obstructions had been established and the strangulating mechanism released a few hours later, death occurred, apparently caused by the absorption of toxic bodies from the strangulated segment. Autolysis of the segment to which the blood supply had been interrupted, rather than