Background: We examined the effectiveness of sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score to describe patients with strangulation ileus.
Methods: The subjects consisted of 66 patients given a diagnosis of ileus who underwent a surgery during the period from January 2001 to December 2006. On the basis of surgical findings, they were classified into two groups; the strangulation group, consisting of 25 patients, and the control group, consisting of 41 patients with simple ileus. The background factors, SOFA score, blood test findings before treatment, and vital signs were compared between these two groups in a retrospective study.
Results: Statistically significant differences between the two groups were observed by univariate analysis in the SOFA score, white blood cell count, CRP, CPK, PaCO2, BE, and pulse rate. The SOFA score, white blood cell count, and pulse rate were significant independent factors in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: These results showed that it may be helpful to use SOFA score in combination with further diagnostic tools, while the experience of clinicians will be still required for diagnosis of strangulation ileus.