Adhesions in the abdomen - can of glue in the abdomen

Abdominal non-Hodgkin lymphoma

"It's now as if they had poured out a can of Pattex in their stomach." Thus, the treated professor explained to his 72-year-old patient the condition in his abdomen. He had been diagnosed as a random finding of a 9.5x5x5cm tumor in the abdomen, which turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This tumor grew in the mesenterial root and around the small intestine. The terminal ileum was particularly affected.

Chemotherapy was chosen as therapy, followed by radiation and in turn by chemotherapy. At the end of this therapy, active cells of the tumor were no longer detectable. About two months after the end of therapy, the sporty and slim patient was admitted to the clinic on suspicion of intestinal obstruction. The therapy was successful. However, he was treated three more times within six months for a subileus in the hospital.

Finally, the professor explained to him that surgery for the permanent rehabilitation of the bottlenecks in the intestine is not possible, as an irradiated intestine is porous and thus an operation is too dangerous. Its repetitive fast intestinal closures would be due to adhesions to the intestine as a result of irradiation. In terms of conventional medicine, nothing can be done for him anymore, but he advised him to visit an osteopath who has a lot of experience in the treatment of internal organs.

So the patient appeared in my practice two months after his last subileus and also told me that it felt in his stomach as if he had a foreign body in it. Objectively, he felt a clear resistance in the abdomen when he bowed with his upper body. He reported great uncertainty about what he is allowed to do and eat at all in order not to trigger another subileus or an ileus in the end.

During palpation, the abdomen in the right lower abdomen up to the belly button felt like a large "lump". This was most of the small intestine, which should normally be palpable as a uniformly soft mass. In this respect, the tactile finding was consistent with the feeling of the patent and the finding of the professor. Since the intestine is easier to hurt by the irradiation, as I said above, the manual procedure for such a glued abdomen must be very careful. So I treated the abdomen only superficially and rather non-specifically. After the treatment, my patient had a lighter feeling in the abdomen during upper body prevention, he was able to prevent himself better, although the foreign body feeling in the abdomen was still present, albeit reduced. This indicated to me that in addition to adhesions, there must also be an increased tone in the intestinal muscles, which is also known and rather I recommended that he also massage his stomach superficially every day and guided him accordingly.

Due to the chronic but severely restrictive symptoms in daily life, we agreed on some weekly treatments. Already during the second treatment, he reported a liberated gut feeling. The "lump" was still to be felt, I worked again like the first time. From the fourth treatment, the small intestine was almost back to normal, only in the middle and deep in the abdomen there was still a region that was clearly too large and too densely palpable - it was the region of the former tumor. The treatment could be carried out more intensively on the structures from the third treatment. The intestine was not damaged. On the contrary, my patient was getting better and better. After eight treatments and almost four months after the last subileus, he can bend forward again without foreign body feeling and he also has more confidence in his intestines.

I am glad that the attending professor had advised him to visit an Ostepath. This case is a good example that mechanical problems can also be solved from the outside.