Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction

Synonyms

Paralytic ileus

Definition

Intestinal pseudo-obstruction describes a syndrome in which the clinical presentation of mechanical obstruction occurs in the absence of any obvious reason. This can affect the colon or small bowel and based on clinical presentation is divided into acute and chronic. Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction appears with symptoms, signs, and radiologic findings similar to those of mechanical intestinal obstruction. Ogilvie, who described in 1948 two cases of massive colonic dilatation without mechanical obstacle and with malignant infiltration of the celiac axis and semilunar ganglion, concluded that the condition is an imbalance in the autonomic nerve supply. The clinical picture of the patients with pseudo-obstruction, despite etiology, is the same with that observed in intestinal obstruction.

Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction usually develops in elderly, hospitalized patients with a variety of problems such as neurological diseases, cardiac failure, chronic...