Volvulus of the Colon in the Demented Patient

Abstract

In spite of a thorough search of the medical literature in this country we have been able to discover only two articles (1, 2) that come within the scope of this paper and these were descriptions of single cases in elderly men at the end of the last century. As it is commonly stated in medical text books that not more than 10 per cent. of all cases of intestinal obstruction are due to volvulus and that of these up to 70 per cent. occur in men, we have been impressed by the incidence of four cases of volvulus in just over three years on the female side of this mental hospital (536 females of all ages).