A health care provider will treat intestinal pseudo-obstruction with nutritional support, medications, and, in some cases, decompression. Rarely, a person will need surgery. If an illness, a medication, or both cause intestinal pseudo-obstruction, a health care provider will treat the underlying illness, stop the medication, or do both.
                
Nutritional Support
                
People with intestinal pseudo-obstruction often need nutritional support to prevent malnutrition and weight loss. Enteral nutrition provides liquid food through a feeding tube inserted through the nose into the stomach or placed directly into the stomach or small intestine. A health care provider inserts the feeding tube, sometimes using x ray or endoscopy for guidance, and teaches the person how to care for the tube after returning home. Enteral nutrition is sufficient for most people with intestinal pseudo-obstruction. In a severe case, a person may need IV feeding, also called parenteral nutrition, which provides liquid food through a tube placed in a vein.
                
Enteral nutrition is possible because the intestinal lining is normal in most people with intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Enteral nutrition is preferred over parenteral nutrition because it has a much lower risk of complications.
                
Medications
                
A health care provider prescribes medications to treat the different symptoms and complications of intestinal pseudo-obstruction, such as
                
- antibiotics to treat bacterial infections  - pain medication, which should be used sparingly, if at all, because most pain medications delay intestinal transit  - medication to make intestinal muscles contract  - antinausea medications  - antidiarrheal medications  - laxatives
                
Decompression
                
A person with acute colonic pseudo-obstruction and a greatly enlarged colon who does not respond to medications may need a procedure, called decompression, to remove gas from the colon. A gastroenterologist can perform the procedure in a hospital or an outpatient center. The gastroenterologist may choose to decompress the colon by using colonoscopy. During colonoscopy, the gastroenterologist inserts a flexible tube into the colon through the anus. A health care provider gives the person a light sedative, and possibly pain medication, to relax. If the person requires long-term decompression, the gastroenterologist also can decompress the colon through a surgical opening in the cecum. In this case, the health care provider gives the person local anesthesia.
                
Surgery
                
In severe cases of intestinal pseudo-obstruction, a person may need surgery to remove part of the intestine. However, surgery should be performed rarely, if at all, because intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a generalized disorder that typically affects the entire intestine. Removing part of the intestine cannot cure the disease.
                
A surgeona doctor who specializes in surgerywill perform the surgery at a hospital; a person will need general anesthesia. A few highly specialized treatment centers offer small intestine transplantation. A health care provider may recommend small intestine transplantation when all other treatments have failed.