One hundred and twenty eight patients with intestinal obstruction due to cancer of left lemicolon are presented. In this series 71 patients suffered from partial intestinal obstruction and 57 patients from complete obstruction, the latter were in later Dukes stages, with lesser resectability of the tumor and higher mortality. The transition from partial obstruction to complete obstruction takes a slow course. Purgatives and coarse fibered food should not be given to the patients with partial obstruction, or else will induce acute obstruction. Several types of operation for partial and complete obstruction are discussed. Methods and results of intraoperative colonic irrigation are presented. The authors believe that intraoperative colonic irrigation is a good emergency management for cancer obstruction of the left colon. Complication of this disease are also discussed.
