The management of acute intestinal obstructions.

pyelonephritis. Resolution was not possible in the presence of an enlarged prostate and an indwelling catheter as reinfection of the kidneys was inevitable; Cases 3, 5, i and 12 survived because the urinary obstruction was removed and the drainage tubes discarded. Infection recurred in Cases 3 and 5 because the chronically distended bladder had not had time to contract down sufficiently and completely evacuate all the urine. The small amount of residual urine acted as a sump in which the organisms thrived. Carcinoma of the prostate, small fragmented calculi, diverticulae and bladder neck obstruction caused the relapsing infection in the remaining cases.