clinical features
Last reviewed 01/2018
The clinical features of intestinal obstruction include:
- pain - usually cramping; constant pain suggests strangulation
- vomiting - early with high obstructions, late in low cases
- constipation - faeces and flatus
- distension - especially with low obstructions
Radiography may reveal:
- distended bowel - either large or small, with air fluid levels
- no abnormality - closed loop obstruction
characteristics of vomiting in bowel obstruction