Surgical history of intestinal obstruction

ABSTRACT

Hippocrates observed and treated Intestinal obstruction. Praxagoras [350 BC] probably performed the earliest recorded operation for intestinal obstruction. However, non-operative treatment remained the general rule including reduction of Hernias, opium for pain, orally administered mercury lead shot. Electrical stimulation and gastric lavage in an endeavour to overcome the obstruction, surgery became more frequently used for intestinal obstruction amid considerable debate in the nineteenth century