Intestinal obstruction.

One hundred severty-one cases of mechanical intestinal obstruction were studied. One hundred fifteen had small bowel obstruction and fifty-six had large bowel obstruction. Adhesion (32.8 per cent), hernia (21.6 per cent), and neoplasm (18.1 per cent) were the cause of obstruction in more than 70 per cent of all cases. More than 40 per cent of patients were older than 60 years and the average age was 52.7. The numbers of males and females were approximately equal. There were twice as many whites as blacks, and the mortality rate was higher among blacks. The overall uncorrected mortality rate was 18.7 per cent. Operation was performed in 105 patients (61.4 per cent), with a postoperative mortality of 19 per cent and corrected postoperative mortality of 4.5 per cent. Contributing factors that were significant were high incidence of metastatic diseases, elderly patients, and delay in admission.