[Delayed intestinal obstruction due to a seatbelt].

During blunt abdominal trauma the small bowel and/or its mesentery may be injured; if abdominal trauma occurs after compression by an incorrectly-applied seat belt, underlying viscera may be crushed between the vertebral and the seat belt; ischemia or infarction of the intestinal wall, and delayed fibrosis and stenosis may occur. We present a patient, operated on two months after blunt abdominal trauma, with small bowel obstruction secondary to post-traumatic intestinal fibrosis. Assuming that this condition is rarely suspected, a delayed diagnosis and treatment of these patients may occur.