Long-term outcome of massive small bowel resection. The long-term outcome for seven patients 4-17 yr (mean 7.1 yr) after massive small bowel resection, leaving 5-160 cm (mean 86.4) of small bowel, was reviewed. Their mean age at the final enterectomy was 40 yr. Adaptation to foodstuffs and the effects of physiologic alterations and complicating diseases on their return to work were emphasized. More than 3.5 yr after surgery, the patients had adapted to many kinds of foodstuffs, but dietary fat could not be tolerated by three patients. Six patients returned to work an average of 2.7 yr after surgery, but four were obliged to discontinue their work because of rehospitalization for long-term complications. In addition, their working hours were limited, and they could not engage in heavy physical work, owing to physiologic alterations, such as a reduced metabolic state, after massive enterectomy. 