Blind loop syndrome

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Digestive system

Stomach and small intestine

Blind loop syndrome

Definition:

Blind loop syndrome occurs when part of the intestine becomes blocked, so that digested food slows or stops moving through the intestines. This causes too much bacteria to grow in the intestines and causes problems in absorbing nutrients.

Alternative Names:

Stasis syndrome; Stagnant loop syndrome

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

When a section of the intestine is blocked by blind loop syndrome, bile salts needed to digest fats become ineffective, resulting in fatty stools and poor absorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins. Vitamin B12 deficiency may occur because the extra bacteria which develop in this situation use up all of the vitamin.

Blind loop syndrome is a complication that occurs after many operations, including subtotal gastrectomy (surgical removal of part of the stomach), operations for extreme obesity, or as a complication of inflammatory bowel disease or scleroderma.

Review Date: 7/16/2004
Reviewed By: Christian Stone, M.D., Division of Gastroenterology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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