Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking you through Ilius.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash Ilius

or in the general surgery section of the Zero to Finals surgery book. So let's get straight into it.

Ilius is a condition affecting the small bowel where the normal peristalysis that pushes the contents

along the length of the intestines temporarily stops. It may be referred to as paralytic ileus or adynamic isleus.

Pseudo-obstruction is a term used to describe a functional obstruction of the large bowel

where patients present with intestinal obstruction but no mechanical cause is found.

This is different to an ilias which affects the small bowel and also less common than an ilias.

Let's talk about the causes of ilias.

There's a long list of things that can make the bowel unhappy leading to an ilias.

Common causes are injury to the bowel, handling of the bowel during surgery,

particularly open surgery, inflammation or infection in or nearby to the bowel, for example

peritonitis, appendicitis, pancreatitis or pneumonia, and electrolyte imbalances, for example, hypokulemia or hyponetremia, a low potassium or

a low sodium. The most common time you'll see an ilious is following abdominal surgery. This usually

resolves with supportive care within a few days.

Let's talk about the signs and symptoms. The signs and symptoms of Ilius are similar to large bowel obstruction, with vomiting, particularly green bilious vomiting, abdominal distension,

diffuse abdominal pain, absolute constipation and a lack of flatulence, and absent bowel

sounds as opposed to the tinkling bowel sounds that you hear in mechanical obstruction.

Let's talk about the management.

The ILEAS will usually resolve with treatment of the underlying cause.

Management involves supportive care.

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