Constipation in the elderly is a common problem, and many families with elderly people sometimes take it for granted, thinking that it can be relieved by using some laxatives, corkage or other medicines, and usually do not investigate the cause as long as they can deal with it. However, in clinical practice, especially in recent years, the proportion of elderly patients with constipation of unknown cause finally diagnosed as intestinal tumor is very high, and these patients with intestinal tumor who did not undergo detailed physical examination in time due to long-term constipation are often in advanced stage of tumor when diagnosed, thus missing the best time for treatment. What is even more difficult for doctors and patients’ families is that many elderly patients often go to the hospital for emergency treatment because of intestinal obstruction that cannot be relieved by themselves. By this time, a large proportion of patients are already in poor general condition and cannot even tolerate invasive tests and surgery, thus losing the opportunity to confirm the diagnosis and further treatment. In some cases, the diagnosis is confirmed intraoperatively, but due to the poor general condition and the inability to perform the necessary bowel preparation before surgery, it is not possible to perform an appropriate radical surgery. This results in secondary surgery and even various serious complications as a result, leading to untimely treatment of the tumor. In some cases, the patient died directly due to strangulated intestinal obstruction because of the delay in treatment. This is regrettable. At present, the best treatment for this kind of patients with intestinal obstruction caused by tumor occupancy is endoscopic placement of stent to contact the obstruction, followed by radical surgery after the systemic condition improves, but there is still no satisfactory treatment process for patients whose stent cannot be placed. Therefore, elderly patients with constipation should not just use laxatives, but should be examined regularly, especially colonoscopy can detect various intestinal lesions in time to avoid causing delays in the disease leading to unmanageable malignant consequences.