Case Report: Ultra-Short Bowel Syndrome after a near-total small bowel resection for gangrene due to volvulus in a district hospital in South Sudan

Abstract

The length of the small intestine ranges between 3m-10m with an average of 6.5m [1]. It is made up of the duodenum (25cm), jejunum (1.5m), and ileum (distal three fifths). Resection of up to a third or even half is compatible with a normal life. However, survival has been reported with a small bowel length of only 45 cm. A major resection leads to the small gut syndrome of malabsorption of macro and micronutrients. The classical symptoms are diarrhoea and those arising from malabsorption. Long term survival is enhanced with the use of parenteral nutrition[4] but there are no publications of survival without parenteral nutrition.

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