Anastomotic obstruction after stapled enteroanastomosis.

We have recently treated two cases of anastomotic obstruction after side-to-side stapled enteroanastomosis. Complete obstruction of a stapled small-bowel anastomosis has not been reported to our knowledge. The mechanism of the obstruction appears to be the healing together of the cut edges of viable bowel beyond the inverted stapled lines. An alternative method of constructing the functional end-to-end enteroanastomosis that is offered is intended to prevent the occurrence of postoperative anastomotic obstruction.