Introduction

Abstract

Small-bowel obstruction (SBO) is responsible for about 15% of surgical operations for an acute abdomen. In Italy, the most frequent causes of SBO are adhesions (about 60%), hernias (about 20%) and neoplasms (about 15%). Comparison with other countries is interesting. In the USA, the most frequent cause of SBO is adhesional syndrome (50–75%), followed by stenosing Crohn’s enteritis and neoplasms; it is interesting to note that hernias are not present due to extensive preventive measures for external hernias. On the contrary, in developing countries, hernias still account for about 78% of SBO as a consequence of the lack of preventive measures. Furthermore, due to the limited number of performed abdominal surgeries, adhesional syndrome is only responsible for 10% of the cases.