Acute intestinal obstruction complicating pregnancy: diagnosis and surgical management.

Intestinal obstruction during pregnancy is an uncommon and serious non-obstetric surgical condition which may be associated with significant maternal and fetal mortality. Surgeons who are called upon to manage these patients are often confronted with a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge due to the rarity of the condition, overlapping symptomatology, concerns over radiological evaluation and risks involved with surgery and anaesthesia. We report a 31-year-old woman who presented with acute intestinal obstruction during the third trimester of pregnancy.