Intestinal Obstruction

Malignant bowel obstruction is a frequent complication of advanced cancer, particularly of abdominal and pelvic origin, and most affected patients experience pain. Opioids are the mainstay of analgesic treatment, but some patients have pain that does not respond adequately or cannot tolerate further opioid dose increases. Lidocaine infusions are sometimes used as an adjuvant pain treatment in this setting, but specific evidence is limited to case reports and small series. This retrospective cohort study will review the medical records of adults with cancer and malignant bowel obstruction who received lidocaine infusions for pain as part of routine palliative care at Hospital Universitario Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá (Bogotá, Colombia) between 2015 and 2025. The study will describe patient characteristics and lidocaine regimens, and will evaluate changes in pain intensity and opioid requirements before and after the start of the infusion, the proportion of patients with a clinically meaningful pain reduction, adverse events, treatment discontinuation due to toxicity, and hospital outcomes. The investigators will not assign or modify any treatment.

Postinduction hypotension (PIH) is a frequent complication during general anesthesia. This study aims to compare the predictive effectiveness and diagnostic accuracy of stroke volume (SV) measured via left ventricular outflow tract velocity time integral (LVOT-VTI) versus the inferior vena cava collapsibility index (IVC-CI) using transthoracic echocardiography. The assessment will be conducted in adult patients with intestinal obstruction undergoing exploratory abdominal surgery under general anesthesia.

This study enrolls patients scheduled to undergo curative surgery for colorectal cancer. Bowel sounds will be assessed preoperatively and postoperatively. By comparing intraoperative variables, the incidence of perioperative complications, reoperation rates, and postoperative outcomes-including time to first flatus, resumption of oral intake, and occurrence of intestinal obstruction-this study aims to investigate the association between perioperative bowel sounds and postoperative recovery, and provide evidence-based support for the clinical application of bowel sound monitoring. Supplementary Definitions

This study explores the use of an exclusive human milk diet versus standard feeding practices to compare the influence on feeding outcomes and the gut bacteria in infants with intestinal differences.

The Saudi Emergency Laparotomy Audit (SELA) is a national, multicenter observational clinical audit designed to evaluate outcomes and quality of care for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy in Saudi Arabia. The audit will collect standardized data on patient characteristics, comorbidities, perioperative processes, and postoperative outcomes through a retrospective baseline phase followed by a prospective registry phase. SELA aims to establish national benchmarks, assess applicability of international risk models, support development of a Saudi-specific risk prediction tool, and drive quality improvement through systematic feedback and benchmarking across participating hospitals.

Neonatal intestinal obstruction is one of the most common surgical emergencies in newborns. In some cases, signs of possible intestinal obstruction can already be detected during pregnancy through prenatal ultrasound. However, not all prenatal ultrasound findings accurately predict whether a newborn will truly have an intestinal obstruction after birth. The purpose of this retrospective observational study is to evaluate which prenatal ultrasound findings are most strongly associated with confirmed intestinal obstruction after birth. In particular, the study aims to identify a specific cutoff value for fetal bowel dilation that best predicts postnatal intestinal obstruction. Other prenatal ultrasound features, such as excess amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios), ascites, echogenic bowel, and other abdominal findings, will also be analyzed. The study will include newborns with a prenatal suspicion of intestinal obstruction who were evaluated at Meyer Children's Hospital between January 2016 and December 2024. Researchers will review existing medical records and ultrasound data. No additional tests or interventions will be performed for study purposes. The results of this study may help improve prenatal counseling, optimize delivery planning in specialized centers, and support early postnatal management of newborns at risk for intestinal obstruction.

Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction Syndrome (CIPO) is a rare gastrointestinal motility disorder. CIPO evolves through iterative flare-ups that can be triggered by viral or bacterial infections, psychological stress, or malnutrition. All of these factors are associated with dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota (IM). Many studies have associated visceral pain with dysbiosis of the IM, particularly in the context of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a painful pathology associated with transit disorders. The team in Dr. Cénac's laboratory has demonstrated the analgesic effect of a bacterial lipid produced by an intestinal bacterium in the context of IBS. The study hypothesize that CIPO patients have a taxonomic and functional dysbiosis of the IM responsible for hyperactivation of sensory neurons inducing visceral pain.