Gore warning ! But if you have watched Dr. Lecter’s terrible evisceration scene from the 2001 Hannibal movie, this mnemonic will make sense to you. ‘Viscera’ is Latin for internal organs but mostly has come to apply to intestines – for example, ‘Evisceration’ is the same as ‘Disemboweling’ !
Bowel obstructions are a common inpatient case, usually adhesions are the culprit and things resolve automatically with watchful waiting & supportive measures like NG tube suction, fluids, etc. After watching that Hannibal scene , would you agree that a Stuck VISCERA would remind you of Bowel obstruction ? You better because S-VISCERA gives us an excellent mnemonic to rememeber causes of mechanical bowel obstruction ! Here goes:
💡 Mnemonic for Causes of Bowel Obstruction: Stuck VISCERA
S – Strictures ( Crohn’s, Radiation, ischemia etc )
V – Volvulus
I – Intussusception
S – Strangulated hernia
C – Cancer (esp Colon Cancer)
E – Eating Foreign Bodies
R – Rectal Stool Impaction (they can still have diarrhea / bowel sounds)
A – Adhesions (most common cause overall)
P.S: Do not confuse bowel obstruction with ileus – ileus means a paralytic, non-mechanical slowing or stasis of a part of intestine and may look clinically similar. Hence I did not use ‘stagnant’ or ‘slow’ or ‘static’ for the ‘S’ above lest you confuse the mnemonic with causes for ileus. So ‘Stuck’ it is !!
💡 There is of course the logical way of remembering this too – Luminal causes (poop , foreign body , cancer ) , Mural ( strictures , volvulus , intusseception ) and Extra-mural ( strangulated hernia , adhesions )
