ABSTRACT
A study was made of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of colonic volvulus in two provincial hospitals of Camagüey during two different time periods (1979-1986 in the Amalia Simoni and 1978-1983 in the Manuel A. Domenech), for a total of 22 cases that represent 4.49% of the 489 patients admitted with a diagnosis of intestinal occlusion. We present 17 volvuli of the sigmoid, 4 ceco-ascendant and 1 transverse. Male sex and age over 70 years were strongly predominant. The principal symptoms were pain (90.9%) and abdominal distension (81.82%). Diagnosis was not reached in one patient who died in the preoperative period. Seventy-five percent of deaths had more than 72 hours of evolution. Several therapeutic procedures were used in this study, but all were considered emergency surgery according to our norms. Fifty percent of patients suffered complications, 38.46% of them wound infection. The mortality was 18.18%. A comparative study was made with other national and international series.
