Pseudo-pseudo-obstruction. A clinically relevant concept.

Four patients with small bowel obstruction were treated nonoperatively after being misdiagnosed as chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Three patients with pseudo-pseudo-obstruction developed significant morbidity, and one patient died while being treated medically. Differentiation between pseudo-obstruction and mechanical obstruction can be difficult and may require laparotomy to establish the diagnosis. Intestinal manometry suggested a mechanical cause for obstruction in two patients and should be done in all patients that carry the diagnosis of intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Other clues to the diagnosis of intestinal pseudo-obstruction are discussed. Intestinal pseudo-obstruction is an uncommon disease that should not be a diagnosis of exclusion but should be diagnosed using historical, radiographic, manometric, pathologic, and operative data.