10 Colonic Pseudo - Obstruction

Colonic pseudo-obstruction is a condition of distention of colon with signs and symptoms of colonic obstruction in the absence of an actual mechanical cause of obstruction. It is a poorly understood disease that is characterized by functional large bowel obstruction. Intestinal pseudo-obstruction was described in 1938 by the German surgeon W. Weiss who reported mega-duodenum in 6 persons in 3 generations of a German family and described it as an inherited subset of intestinal pseudo-obstruction[2]. A similar condition of pseudoobstruction of intestine was described by Ingelfinger in 1943. Colonic pseudo-obstruction, however, was first described by Sir William Heneage Ogilvie in 1948 and named after him as “Ogilvie’s Syndrome”. His description was based on the findings of two patients who had non-mechanical obstruction due to retroperitoneal involvement of the celiac plexus by malignancy[1]. J. Dunlop in 1949 described a similar condition in men aged 56, 58, and 66 years where large bowel colic was the predominant symptom accompanied by constipation, abdominal distension, and progressive loss of weight, but with no evidence of mechanical obstruction to the intestinal flow[3]. In 1958, Dudley et al used the term pseudo-obstruction to describe the clinical appearance of a mechanical obstruction with no evidence of organic disease during laparotomy[4]. Ogilvie’s syndrome commonly occurs in patients who are critically ill, have electrolyte imbalance, or on anticholinergic medications. If left untreated, life threatening complications like bowel ischemia or perforation may occur in up to 15% of cases with a mortality of 50%[5].