Small bowel resection is a surgical procedure for partial removal of the small bowel.
Indications (areas of application)
- Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI; intestinal infarction, mesenteric artery occlusion, mesenteric infarction, mesenteric occlusive disease, angina abdominalis).
- Small bowel stenosis (narrowing of the small intestine).
- Fistula formation – formation of non-physiological ducts in the area of the small intestine.
- Crohn’s disease – chronic inflammatory bowel disease; it usually progresses in relapses and can affect the entire digestive tract; characteristic is the segmental affection of the intestinal mucosa (intestinal mucosa), that is, several intestinal segments may be affected, which are separated by healthy sections of each other
- Necrotizing enterocolitis – destruction of the intestine occurring in newborns due to pathogenic germs.
- Trauma (injury) with small intestine perforation (opening).
- Tumors
- Volvulus – rotation of a segment of the digestive tract about its mesenteric axis; symptoms: abdominal swelling that develops over two or three days; typical complications include mechanical ileus (intestinal obstruction) or intestinal gangrene (death of a segment of intestine due to inadequate oxygenation)
The surgical procedure
After partial removal of the small intestine, the resection margins are anastomosed (joined). In benign diseases, only the affected area is removed. However, for malignant (malignant) tumors, the lymph nodes of that area are also removed. If more than three meters of small intestine is removed, malabsorption symptoms usually occur. Malabsorption means that the absorption of previously already broken down (predigested) food components through the intestinal wall into the lymph or bloodstream (enteric absorption) is reduced.
Potential complications
- Bleeding
- Infections
- Wound healing disorders
- Incisional hernia – abdominal wall hernia in the area of the surgical scar.
- Suture insufficiency – inability of the suture to adapt the tissues.
- Anastomotic stenosis – narrowing of the connecting suture.
- Short bowel syndrome – see below
- Thromboembolism – occlusion of a pulmonary artery by a blood clot.
- Pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs)
- Malnutrition (malnutrition)
