Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

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

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

or in the general surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Volvulus is a condition where the bowel twists around itself and the measentary that it's

attached to.

The mezantary is the membranous peritoneal tissue that creates a connection between the bowel

and the posterior abdominal wall.

The bowel gets its blood supply from the measentery through the mesenteric arteries.

Twisting in the bowel leads to a closed loop bowel obstruction, where a section of the bowel is

isolated by the obstruction on either side. The blood vessels that supply the bowel can be involved,

cutting off the blood supply to the bowel, which leads to bowel ischemia.

Echemia leads to death of the bowel tissue, which is called necrosis,

and eventually bowel perforation.

Let's talk about the types of volvulus.

There are two main types of volvulus depending on the area affected, a sigmoid volvulus and a sequelvululus. Sigmoid volvulus is more common and tends to

affect older patients. The twist affects the sigmoid colon. A key causes chronic constipation and

lengthening of the measant tree attached to the sigmoic colon. The sigmoic colon becomes overloaded

with feces, causing it to sink downwards and then causing it to twist. A sigmoid volvulus is also associated with a high-fiber diet and the

excessive use of laxatives. Sequel volvulus is less common and tends to affect younger patients, and the

twist occurs in the seacum. So what are the risk factors for volvulus? Well, the risk factors are neuropsychiatric disorders,

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