[The acute pseudobstruction of the colon, or Ogilvie's syndrome: a rare cause of acute abdomen, high mortality and associated pathologies in an internal medicine department].

The acute pseudobstruction of the colon or Ogilvie's syndrome is a infrequent pathology of acute or subacute evolution, that is associated to different clinical or surgical pathologies, and whose pathophysiology continues to be unknown. The treatment begins with general measures and if these are not effective, with the surgical decompression of colon to avoid the most serious complication, and frequently that is perforation of the cecum. We present a case of an acute and idiopathic dilatation of colon in an adult man who entered by an episode of acute respiratory insufficiency, and that was solved with preservative medical treatment.