doi 10.17992/lbl.2026. 09.907

Correspondance Birgitta Olafsdottir, birgittaola@gmail.com

Key words: volvulus, caecum, ileocecal resection, right hemicolectomy

Introduction: Cecal volvulus is the second most common type of volvulus after sigmoid volvulus. Resectional surgery where the right colon is removed is the primary treatment. The goal of this study was to assess the treatment and outcomes of surgery of cecal volvulus at our institution.

Material and methods: The study was retrospective and included all patients admitted to Landspitali with cecal volvulus who underwent acute surgery between 2009 and 2023. Clinical records were examined and information regarding sex, age, treatment, length of hospital stay, postoperative complications and histological diagnosis recorded..

Results: During the study period 75 patients were diagnosed with cecal volvulus and had emergency surgery, 60 (80%) women and 15 (20%) men. The average age was 60 years (21-95). The most common surgery performed was open right hemicolectomy (70.6%) and the majority of operations were performed within 48 hours of admission (96%). Forty-Eight (64%) patients had postsurgical complications, three (4%) needed reoperation, one patient (1.3%) had an anastomotic leak and two (2.7%) patients died within 30 days of surgery. Seven (9.3%) patients had to be readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Necrosis or perforation led to a higher rates of major complications (25% vs 4.2%; p=0.022) and a higher white blood cell response (9.9 vs 14.3; p=0.01)

Conclusion: Patients that are diagnosed with cecal volvulus and have emergency surgery in Landspítali have good outcomes. Mortality is low but necrosis and/or perforation increases rates of complications and their severity.

Table I. Number of patients and type of complication after surgery.

Table II. Comparison between patients that had necrosis in their specimen to those that did not.

Figure 1. Number of surgical complications classified according to Clavien-Dindo classification system.⁶