Pediatric intestinal obstruction is a pediatric emergency and one of the acute abdominal conditions. The typical symptoms of pediatric intestinal obstruction are abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting, cessation of the child’s bowel movements, and the presence of a liquid-gas plane on a standing abdominal film. Younger children are unable to express the pain in the stomach, so they tend to cry continuously and vomit, either milk-like vomit or bile-like vomit. Older children can describe the location of the pain and the vomit is still stomach contents, or they may vomit bile or blood. Intestinal obstruction is usually classified as either high or low intestinal obstruction, with high intestinal obstruction being characterized by vomiting and low intestinal obstruction by distention and cessation of vomiting and defecation.
Once a pediatric intestinal obstruction is diagnosed, immediate treatment is required. Conservative treatment mainly includes fasting and water fasting, gastrointestinal decompression, intravenous rehydration to correct water-electrolyte disorder, and antibiotics to control infection, and promote the recovery of intestinal function through this series of treatment. If it is mechanical complete intestinal obstruction, especially strangulated intestinal obstruction, then surgery is required.
If the temporary intestinal obstruction is caused by fecal obstruction and dyspepsia, it is a functional intestinal obstruction, and there is no obvious liquid and gas plane through the abdominal standing film examination, it can be treated by taking prokinetic drugs.