Small bowel resection is surgery to remove part or all of your small bowel. It is done when part of your small bowel is blocked or diseased.

The small bowel is also called the small intestine. Most digestion (breaking down and absorbing nutrients) of the food you eat takes place in the small intestine.

You will receive general anesthesia right before your surgery. This will make you unconscious and unable to feel pain.

If you have laparoscopic surgery:

• You will have 3 to 5 small incisions (cuts) in your lower belly. The surgeon passes a camera and medical instruments through these cuts.
• You may also have a cut of about 2 to 3 inches if your surgeon needs to put a hand inside your belly.
• Your belly will be filled with gas to expand it. This makes the area easier to see and work in.

If you have open surgery, you will probably have an incision about6 inches long in your mid-belly.

• Your surgeon will locate the part of your small intestine that is diseased.
• Then your surgeon will put clamps on both ends of this part to close it off.
• Then the surgeon will remove the diseased part.

In both kinds of surgery:

• If there is enough healthy small intestine left, your surgeon will sew or staple the healthy ends of the small intestine back together. Most patients have this done.
• If you do not have enough healthy small intestine to reconnect, your surgeon will make an opening called a stoma through the skin of your belly. Your small intestine will be attached to the outer wall of your belly. Stool will go through the stoma into a drainage bag outside your body. This is called an iIeostomy.

Your surgeon may also look at lymph nodes and other organs in your belly area and may remove some of them.

This surgery usually takes 1 to 4 hours.

Small bowel resection may be recommended for:

• A blockage in the intestine caused by scar tissue or deformities
• Bleeding, infection, or ulcers caused by inflammation of the small intestine. Three conditions that may cause inflammation are regional ileitis, regional enteritis, and Crohn's disease.
• Injuries to the small intestine
• Cancer
• Precancerous polyps (nodes)
• Benign tumors