Treatment for bowel obstructions caused by cancer

Some bowel obstructions are caused by cancer that cannot be treated with surgery. In many cases, doctors can prescribe medicines and perform procedures to try to improve your quality of life.

You may take medicines called antisecretory agents, such as octreotide or scopolamine, to reduce the amount of digestive fluids your body releases into the intestines. The symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and pain may ease as the amount of fluid in the intestines decreases.¹

You may take narcotics such as morphine for pain and corticosteroids to help reduce inflammation that can add fluid to the intestines.

In some cases of obstruction caused by cancer, doctors may place expandable metal tubes called stents in the large intestine. The stents can help restore bowel function and improve symptoms.² Expandable stents also have been placed in people who have obstruction of the small intestine caused by inoperable cancer.

Citations

1. Muir JC, Von Gunten CF (2000). Antisecretory agents in gastrointestinal obstruction. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, 16(2): 327–334.

2. Turnage RH, et al. (2006). Intestinal obstruction and ileus. In M Feldman et al., eds., Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease, 8th ed., pp. 2653–2677. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.