A 42-year-old man arrived at an emergency hospital in Iasi, Romania, with two days of cramping abdominal pain, a swollen belly, and vomiting that had turned bile-colored. The obstruction was obvious. The cause was not.
He had never had abdominal surgery. That single fact removes the explanation behind most bowel obstructions, because scar tissue from previous operations is by far the most common cause. Surgeons call an abdomen that has never been opened a virgin abdomen, and an obstruction in one is a genuine diagnostic problem.
