Acute ileocecal volvulus is a condition of the abdomen which requires emergency treatment and is currently managed by several methods with a mortality rate of 25%. Surgical options include detorsion, cecostomy for nongangrenous volvulus or resection when gangrene is present. We studied the mortality and recurrence rate of ileocecal volvulus. This retrospective analysis evaluated 16 patients who underwent operation at Belen Hospital, Trujillo, Peru, between January 1966 and August 1992. As of August 1992, median follow-up was 160 months for 13 surviving patients (range, 6 to 307 months). Eleven men and 5 women with a median age of 52.3 + 21.1 years (range, 9 months to 83 years) formed the study population. Sixty eight percent of cases were 41 to 80 years of age and all women were than 40 years of age. Most of them were from the Peruvian Andes (81.3%), were from Indian and Spanish extraction (93.7%), and farmers (50%). Twelve patients (75%) developed a chronic ileocecal volvulus and 4 (25%) had an acute presentation. The clinical picture presented as large bowel obstruction in all patients. An ileocecal volvulus was accurately diagnosed by plain films of the abdomen in only 2 patients (16%) pre-operatively. A variety of procedures were used: cecopexy (9 cases), right hemicolectomy (3 cases) simple detorsion (2 cases), Mickulics exteriorization-resection (1 case) and cecostomy (1 case). The operative mortality rate was 18.7%. There were no recurrences after cecopexy. The most frequent post-operative complications were bronchopneumonia (18.7%), and wound infection (18.7%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)