Management of malignant bowel obstruction

Krouse and colleagues 1 Krouse RS Anderson GL Arnold KB et al. Surgical versus non-surgical management for patients with malignant bowel obstruction (S1316): a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023; 8: 908-918 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar have reported that, in patients with potentially operable malignant bowel obstruction, surgery versus no surgery provides a similar number of days without hospital stay, which was about half of the study period for both groups, and a similar survival at 3 months. Initially, surgery seemed to improve gastrointestinal symptoms. Surgical versus non-surgical management for patients with malignant bowel obstruction (S1316): a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trialIn our study, whether patients received a surgical or non-surgical treatment approach did not influence good days during the first 91 days after registration. These findings should inform treatment decisions for patients hospitalised with malignant bowel obstruction. Full-Text PDF Management of malignant bowel obstruction – Authors' replyWe thank Sebastiano Mercadante and Arjun Gupta for their interest in the S1316 trial.1 They each make important critiques that we will address individually. Full-Text PDF