Bowel obstruction and the long tube stent.

Fifty-eight cases of intestinal obstruction requiring operative intervention were reviewed. Enterolysis alone as the treatment for bowel obstruction as a result of adhesions appears to be as good or better than the long tube stent. Patients treated with enterolysis alone had a shorter period of postoperative ileus, a shorter hospital confinement following operation, and fewer recurrent obstructions. These patients also had a longer interval between episodes of reobstruction than did those treated with an intraluminal long tube stent.