Intraabdominal adhesions are almost inevitable following major abdominal surgery. Although the vast majority of adhesions are harmless and may be protective or even life-saving, intestinal obstruction form intraabdominal adhesions is a relatively
common
surgical emergency In the 20th century, with the advent of new antibiotics and improved operative techniques, abdominal surgical procedure has become an everyday occurrence. As more and more abdominal operations are performed postoperative
adhesions
develop more frequently in patients, and the potential risk of intestinal obstruction becomes greater. Analysis of intestinal obstruction becomes greater. Analysis of large series of cases demonstrate that approximately one third of all
intestinal
obstructions are likely to be due to adhesions, and these are responsible for about 60% of all small intestinal obstruction. Postoperative abhesive ileus now becomes the most common cause of the intestinal obstruction. This is a retrospective
study
of
postoperative intestinal obstruction we experienced from January. 1986 to December. 1990 (60 months). The purpose in this paper is to present a review of our experience in management of the intestinal obstruction caused by adhesions, and to
discuss
the
following points: 1) The relation between given types of abdominal surgery and the ensuing adhesion, 2) valuable clinical findings as early indicators of the strangulated intestinal obstruction. 103 patients with symptomatic postoperative
adhesion
were
elected to see whether there has been any relation between the kind of the procedure. Degree of contamination and duration of the preceding abdominal operation and the characteristics of the ensuing postoperative adhesive ileus. Clinical findings
were
also evaluated to find which of them were valuable as early indicators of the strangulated intestinal obstruction. There was certain degree of reation between the kind of the procedure and postoperative adhesion site. However the degree of
peritoneal
contamination and the operation time had no significant relation to the postoperative adhesion. Three or more clinical findings out of five classcal findings of the intestinal obstruction(abdominal pain & tenderness, ever, tachcardia, and
leukocytosis),
leukocytosis of 20,000/㎣ or more, and the left-shifted differential count all had significant diagnostic value as early clinical indicators of the strangulated intestinal obstruction.
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