Postoperative ileus

Ileus is a disruption of the normal propulsive ability of the intestine due to the malfunction of peristalsis. Ileus is a disruption of the normal propulsive ability of the intestine due to the malfunction of peristalsis. Ileus originally referred to any lack of digestive propulsion, including bowel obstruction,but current medical usage restricts its meaning only to those disruptions caused by the failure of the system's peristalsis and excludes failures due to mechanical obstruction,with the exception of certain older terms such as 'gallstone ileus' and 'meconium ileus' which are still accepted as correct (though they are now technically misnomers) due to their persistence in usage. The word 'ileus' is from Greek εἰλεός eileós, 'intestinal obstruction'.