Long intestinal tube splinting prevents postoperative adhesive small-bowel obstruction in sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis

BACKGROUND Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (SEP) is a rare cause of small-bowel obstruction. The optimal treatment for this condition remains controversial. METHODS In this study, we performed a retrospective analysis of the data of 44 patients who underwent surgery for SEP between December 2001 and 2008 at our hospital. The long-term follow-up data of the patients were assessed for the recurrence of adhesive small-bowel obstruction (ASBO), and patient survival was assessed to evaluate the efficiency of tube splinting in the prevention of postoperative ASBO. RESULTS Of the 44 patients who underwent surgery for SEP, 33 underwent simple enterolysis along with tube splinting, while the remaining underwent only simple enterolysis. The median follow-up period was 79.4 ± 24.8 months (range: 8-123 months). The rate of complications was 9.1% and 6.1% in the simple enterolysis group and tube-splinting group, respectively (P = 0.73). The recurrence rate of ASBO was lower in the tube-splinting group (6.7%) than in the simple enterolysis group (40%) (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that tube splinting may be more useful than simple enterolysis alone in preventing the recurrence of ASBO in patients with SEP.