Abstract
Background: Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a clinical situation due to extensive intestinal resection or dysfunction of the absorptive system of the small intestine. When these patints are not submitted to nutritional therapy their maximum survival is six months. In Brazil there are few reference centers for the treatment and follow-up of these patients and information about their characterization is scarce. Objective: To describe enterectomized patients attended during the period from 1996 to 2007. Methods: All medical records of the patients attended at the Nutrology service of HCFMRP-USP were analyzed retrospectively. Data were collected and analyzed descriptively using the contingency test and the Wilcoxon- Mann-Whitney test for independent samples. Results: Thirty-eight patients with a mean age of 52 years at the time of enterectomy were analyzed, 47% of them males and 53% females. The main etiology of SBS was mesenteric ischemia (73%). Of these patients, 67% had some risk factor associated with atherosclerosis. No significant differences in eating habits were detected between the period before and after surgery. After surgery, 39% of the patients developed a significant weight loss and 79% developed some type of complication, surgical in 34%, infectious in 66% and of both types in 21%. Survival was 9.5 years. Conclusion: Extensive resections of the small bowel may be associated with atherosclerosis and represent an important nutritional risk, with a significant weight loss during the first year, which seems to be related to increased morbidity. Adequate nutritional therapy is associated with increased survival.