Short bowel syndrome

Overview

Many people in the United States have extensive parts of their small intestine resected each year for different conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), cancer, mesenteric ischemia, and others. Necrotizing enterocolitis, midgut volvulus, and other abdominal disasters are becoming increasingly prevalent in children. A functional short-bowel syndrome can result from a variety of nonsurgical treatments. Radiation enteritis is one example of this clinical situation.

Patients with inadequate small intestinal absorptive surface area experience malabsorption, malnutrition, diarrhea, and electrolyte imbalances. Short-bowel syndrome refers to a subset of people who have clinically substantial malabsorption and malnutrition.

According to cadaver studies, the typical length of the adult human small intestine is around 600 cm. The range, according to Lennard-Jones and Weser, is from 260 to 800 cm.  Short-bowel syndrome is caused by any illness, traumatic injury, vascular accident, or other pathology that leaves less than 200 cm of viable small bowel or resulting in a loss of 50% or more of the small intestine.