Primary Small Intestinal Tumor Cases In Emergency Surgery

Despite advanced diagnostic methods, diagnosis of small intestinal tumors is hard and they are generally detected at an advanced stage. These cancers may form emergency cases that need to be addressed surgically like bleeding, obstruction, and perforation or insidious abdominal pain and weight loss. We present our clinical experiences and the short term results of 29 patients with primary small intestinal tumors who had undergone emergency surgical procedures. The data of these 29 patients treated at our clinic between 2005 and 2011 were retrospectively evaluated. Study parameters included the patients’ demographic, clinical, radiological, and pathological characteristics. All the cases underwent emergency surgery. 16 of the patients were male, while 13 were female, and their mean age was 62 (35-80). Intestinal obstruction was detected in 19 of the cases, while perforation in 6, and mesenteric ischemia in 4. Tumors were located in the ileum in 14 patients, in the jejunum in 10, and in the duodenum in 5. The most frequent pathological diagnoses were GIST with 8 cases and adenocarcinoma with 8 cases. The most frequently performed surgical procedures were small intestinal resection and anastomosis. Four patients developed surgical site infection and three had anastomotic leaks in the post-op period. Mortality was seen in five patients in the early post-op period. Tumors of the small intestine are very rare. The findings are non-specific and advanced diagnostic methods are needed during the diagnostic process. They generally cause clinical conditions that necessitate emergency surgery. The timing of the treatment is a significant factor determining survival.