• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.233-240
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• 2020

Objectives: This report presents a case using acupuncture and moxibustion to treat postoperative adhesive small bowel obstruction. Case Presentation: A 62-year-old male with two previous intra-abdominal surgeries, complaining of abdominal pain, abdominal distention, and general weakness, visited Korean medicine hospital. He was suffering from small bowel obstruction that had not improve for three weeks. Methods: The patient was diagnosed with postoperative adhesive small bowel obstruction. The patient received acupuncture and moxibustion in addition to intravenous fluid treatment. The patient underwent radiologic testing on a daily basis. Results: The symptoms improved quickly with the treatment, including acupuncture and moxibustion. He was able to start eating three days after he started receiving treatment. The abdomen X-ray also showed rapid improvement. No adverse effect was observed during the nine days of hospitalization. Conclusions: This report demonstrates that acupuncture and moxibustion may be effective in treating adhesive small bowel obstruction. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings.

• The Korean Journal of Medicine
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.199-205
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• 2024

Benign small bowel strictures can occur in association with various conditions, including small bowel Crohn's disease, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced enteritis, ischemic enteritis, intestinal tuberculosis, radiation enteritis, postoperative adhesions, and anastomotic strictures. Benign small bowel strictures are classified into two categories, low-grade and high-grade. Low-grade small bowel strictures involve a partial reduction of the internal diameter of the small intestine, causing slight obstruction of the passage of food and digestive fluids without significant bowel obstruction symptoms. By contrast, high-grade small bowel strictures involve a severe narrowing of the intestinal lumen, leading to marked obstruction of the passage of food and digestive fluids and pronounced bowel obstruction symptoms. Small bowel strictures can be diagnosed using various methods, including abdominal plain radiography, abdominal computed tomography, computed tomography enterography, magnetic resonance enterography, balloon-assisted enteroscopy, and abdominal ultrasound. Each diagnostic method has unique advantages and disadvantages as well as differences in diagnostic specificity and sensitivity. Therefore, even if small bowel strictures are not observed using a single imaging technique, their presence cannot be completely excluded. A comprehensive diagnosis that combines clinical information from multiple diagnostic modalities is necessary. Therapeutic approaches for managing small bowel strictures include medical therapy, endoscopic balloon dilation using balloon-assisted enteroscopy, and surgical methods such as strictureplasty and segmental resection. Endoscopic balloon dilation, in particular, can help reduce complications associated with repeated surgeries for strictures.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.219-221
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• 2008

Intestinal obstruction is not uncommon in infants. The common causes of intestinal obstruction in the neonatal period are Hirschsprung disease, intestinal atresia, meconium ileus, and intussusception. However, small bowel obstruction caused by a congenital band is very rare. We report a 27-day-old baby who was admitted with abdominal distension and fever. The abdominal X-ray revealed massive bowel dilatation and the contrast gastrografin enema suggested a distal small bowel obstruction. The explolaparotomy showed small bowel entrapment due to an unusual anomalous congenital band.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.153-159
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• 2022

Plain radiographic analysis is the initial imaging modality for suspected small bowel obstruction. Among the many features that affect the diagnosis of small bowel obstruction (SBO), the presence of gas-filled or fluid-filled small bowel loops is the most salient feature that can be automatized by computer vision algorithms. In this study, we compare three frequently applied pixel-clustering algorithms for extracting gas-filled areas without human intervention. In a comparison involving 40 suspected SBO cases, the Possibilistic C-Means and Fuzzy C-Means algorithms exhibited initialization-sensitivity problems and difficulties coping with low intensity contrast, achieving low 72.5% and 85% success rates in extraction. The Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 algorithm is the most suitable algorithm for gas-filled region detection, achieving a 100% success rate on 40 tested images, largely owing to its dynamic control of the number of clusters.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.230-234
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• 2009

Trichobezoars are commonly found within the stomach, but rarely induce small bowel obstruction. We report an 8-year-old girl who presented with bilious vomiting and colicky abdominal pain. She had a history of depression and trichophagia. A diagnosis of small bowel obstruction was made on computed tomography and a trichobezoar in the ileum was evacuated by exploratory laparatomy.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 2019

Bowel ischemia is a life-threatening surgical emergency. We report a case of rapidly progressive bowel necrosis in a previously healthy child without proven mechanical small bowel obstruction. The definite diagnosis was established at the time of an exploratory operation. Of note, imaging studies and even a laparotomy did not reveal any evidence of acute appendicitis or mechanical obstruction such as intussusception or Meckel's diverticulum. During hospitalization, since we could not rule out surgical abdomen after inconclusive image findings, we closely followed the patient and repeated physical examinations carefully. Eventually surgical exploration was performed based on changes in clinical condition, which proved to be the right decision for the patient. We propose that in children with suspected strangulation of small bowel obstruction, especially when imaging findings do not provide a conclusive diagnosis, the timely exploratory surgical approach ought to be chosen based on carefully observed clinical findings and other evaluations.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2023

Postoperative adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) is an intractable disorder which sometimes leads to adhesiolysis or small bowel resection. These therapeutic reoperations, however, also have many limitations including complications. An 80-year-old female, who had undergone 4-abdominal surgeries, visited the hospital with continuous vomiting. Based on her clinical symptoms and history, multiple air-fluid levels and distention of the small bowel in an abdominal X-ray, we diagnosed her with postoperative incomplete ASBO. We conducted acupuncture and an herbal medicine enema to stimulate bowel movement and relieve pain. The patient came in complaining of abdominal pain and vomited more than 10 times on hospital day 0 stopping on hospital day 4. Comparing hospital day 0 with hospital day 4, the abdominal pain decreased from a numerical rating scale (NRS) 10 to 4. There were no side effects such as redness or burns during the treatment process. This study presented an acupuncture-based treatment will be helpful for clinicians managing cases of ASBO with poor performance in elderly individuals.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-27
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• 2014

Patients treated with peritoneal dialysis have increased intra-abdominal pressure and a high prevalence of abdominal wall complications. Hernias can lead to significant morbidity in patients on peritoneal dialysis. Hernias are clinically important because of the risk of incarceration, strangulation and subsequent bowel obstruction, rupture, and peritonitis. In this paper, a case of incarcerated umbilical hernia with small bowel obstruction in a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patient is reported. The small bowel obstruction improved after herniorrhaphy, and the peritoneal dialysis was resumed 2 weeks after the herniorrhaphy. The patient had been undergoing CAPD without technical failure until the 2 months follow-up after the herniorrhaphy. This case shows that early detection of incarcerated umbilical hernia and herniorrhaphy can prevent resection of a strangulated small bowel so that it can remain on CAPD without post-operative technical failure. Umbilical hernias should be carefully observed and intestinal obstruction should be considered when a CAPD patient with an umbilical hernia has abdominal pain.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.241-245
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• 2024

A 12-year-old spayed female dog presented with vomiting and anorexia for four days. Radiographic examination revealed that the small intestines were distended with fecal material. Ultrasound examination showed irregular marginated material with moderate shadowing throughout several segments of the small intestines. Proximal to this intestinal material, small intestines were distended with fluid. The patient underwent one-day of hospitalization, and descent of small bowel fecal materials (SBFMs) was confirmed on radiographs. However, surgical removal was performed due to worsening clinical signs and echogenic changes in the mesentery observed on ultrasound. During surgery, intestinal congestion was observed along with congestion and edema in the surrounding mesentery. Two segments of the small intestines were resected, and feces were found within the resected segments. The patient showed rapid recovery postoperatively and experienced no recurrence. SBFM can induce mechanical intestinal obstruction, and if radiographic evidence of SBFM is observed in patients with vomiting, surgical resection would be considered.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.193-196
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• 2015

A fecaloma refers to a mass of accumulated feces that is much harder than a mass associated with fecal impaction. Fecalomas are usually found in the rectosigmoid area. A 10-year-old male with chronic constipation was admitted because of increasing abdominal pain. An abdominal computed tomography scan and a simple abdominal x-ray revealed rapidly evolving mechanical obstruction in the small intestine. Most of the fecalomas are successfully treated by conservative methods such as laxatives, enemas and rectal evacuation. When conservative treatments have failed, surgical intervention may be needed. In this case, an emergency operation was performed and a $4{\times}3{\times}2.5cm$ fecaloma was found in the distal ileum. We thus report a case of ileal fecaloma inducing small bowel obstruction in a patient with chronic constipation, who required surgical intervention. When symptoms of acute small intestinal obstruction develop in a patient with chronic constipation, a fecaloma should be considered in differential diagnosis.