VOLVULUS of the cecum is a rare disease. Our interest in this subject was stimulated by three cases occurring recently at the Boston City Hospital. The purpose of this paper is to review briefly the condition and add three cases to the literature.
The incidence of volvulus of the cecum as a cause of intestinal obstruction varies with different authors. Sweet1 reported an incidence of 1.15% of 520 cases of intestinal obstruction seen at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Young, Morrison, and Wilson2 found an incidence of 1.4% at the Faulkner Hospital. Other reported incidences have been 1.4% at the Touro Infirmary3 and 4.3% at the Albany Hospital.4
Although occurring at any age, this condition is chiefly a disease of young adults. The majority of cases appear between the ages of 20 and 50.4
The predisposing cause of cecal volvulus is hypermobility of the cecum. In