Except in the most severe cases, ischemic colitis is treated with supportive care. IV fluids are given to treat dehydration, and the patient is placed on bowel rest (meaning nothing to eat or drink) until the symptoms resolve. If possible, cardiac function and oxygenation should be optimized to improve oxygen delivery to the ischemic bowel. A nasogastric tube may be inserted if an ileus is present.

Antibiotics are sometimes given in moderate to severe cases; the data supporting this practice date to the 1950s, although there is more recent animal data suggesting that antibiotics may increase survival and prevent bacteria from crossing the damaged lining of the colon into the bloodstream. The use of prophylactic antibiotics in ischemic colitis has not been prospectively evaluated in humans, but many authorities recommend their use based on the animal data.

Patients being treated supportively are carefully monitored. If they develop worsening symptoms and signs such as high white blood cell count, fever, worsened abdominal pain, or increased bleeding, then they may require surgical intervention; this usually consists of laparotomy and bowel resection.

In addition to fluid support, impactions are often treated with intestinal lubricants and laxatives to help move the obstruction along. Mineral oil is the most commonly used lubricant for large colon impactions, and is administered via nasogastric tube, up to 4 liters once or twice daily. It helps coat the intestine, but is not very effective for severe impactions or sand colic since it may simply bypass the obstruction. Mineral oil has the added benefit of crudely measuring GI transit time, a process which normally takes around 18 hours, since it is obvious when it is passed. The detergent dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DDS) is also commonly given in oral fluids. It is more effective in softening an impaction than mineral oil, and helps stimulate intestinal motility, but can inhibit fluid absorption from the intestine and is potentially toxic so is only given in small amounts, two separate times 48 hours apart. Epsom salts are also useful for impactions, since they act both as an osmotic agent, to increase fluid in the GI tract, and as a laxative, but do run the risk of dehydration and diarrhea. Strong laxatives are not recommended for treating impactions.

If bacterial infection is suspected, antibiotics may be used. Despite being recommended by several guidelines, the use of antibiotics in mild cases of uncomplicated diverticulitis is supported with only "sparse and of low quality" evidence, with no evidence supporting their routine use.

Fluids are commonly given, either orally by nasogastric tube or by intravenous catheter, to restore proper hydration and electrolyte balance. In cases of strangulating obstruction or enteritis, the intestine will have decreased absorption and increased secretion of fluid into the intestinal lumen, making oral fluids ineffective and possibly dangerous if they cause gastric distention and rupture. This process of secretion into the intestinal lumen leads to dehydration, and these horse require large amounts of IV fluids to prevent hypotension and subsequent cardiovascular collapse. Fluid rates are calculated by adding the fluid lost during each collection of gastric reflux to the daily maintenance requirement of the horse. Due to the fact that horses absorb water in the cecum and colon, the IV fluid requirement of horses with simple obstruction is dependent on the location of the obstruction. Those that are obstructed further distally, such as at the pelvic flexure, are able to absorb more oral fluid than those obstructed in the small intestine, and therefore require less IV fluid support. Impactions are usually managed with fluids for 3–5 days before surgery is considered. Fluids are given based on results of the physical examination, such as mucous membrane quality, PCV, and electrolyte levels. Horses in circulatory shock, such as those suffering from endotoxemia, require very high rates of IV fluid administration. Oral fluids via nasogastric tube are often given in the case of impactions to help lubricate the obstruction. Oral fluids should not be given if significant amounts of nasogastric reflux are obtained. Access to food and water will often be denied to allow careful monitoring and administration of what is taken in by the horse.

Most cases of simple, uncomplicated diverticulitis respond to conservative therapy with bowel rest.

Surgical intervention is nearly always required in form of exploratory laparotomy and closure of perforation with peritoneal wash. Occasionally they may be managed laparoscopically.

Conservative treatment including intravenous fluids, antibiotics, nasogastric aspiration and bowel rest is indicated only if the person is nontoxic and clinically stable.

The objective of treatment is to decompress the bowel and to prevent swallowed air from further distending the bowel. If decompression is not achieved or the patient does not improve within 24 hours, a colectomy (surgical removal of all or part of the colon) is indicated. When surgery is required the recommended procedure is a subtotal colectomy with end ileostomy. Fluid and electrolyte replacement help to prevent dehydration and shock. Use of corticosteroids may be indicated to suppress the inflammatory reaction in the colon if megacolon has resulted from active inflammatory bowel disease. Antibiotics may be given to prevent sepsis.

If the condition does not improve, the risk of death is significant. In case of poor response to conservative therapy, a colectomy is usually required.

In the management of small bowel obstructions, a commonly quoted surgical aphorism is: "never let the sun rise or set on small-bowel obstruction" because about 5.5% of small bowel obstructions are ultimately fatal if treatment is delayed. However improvements in radiological imaging of small bowel obstructions allow for confident distinction between simple obstructions, that can be treated conservatively, and obstructions that are surgical emergencies (volvulus, closed-loop obstructions, ischemic bowel, incarcerated hernias, etc.).

A small flexible tube (nasogastric tube) may be inserted through the nose into the stomach to help decompress the dilated bowel. This tube is uncomfortable but does relieve the abdominal cramps, distention, and vomiting. Intravenous therapy is utilized and the urine output is monitored with a catheter in the bladder.

Most people with SBO are initially managed conservatively because in many cases, the bowel will open up. Some adhesions loosen up and the obstruction resolves. However, when conservative management is undertaken, the patient is examined several times a day, and X-ray images are obtained to ensure that the individual is not getting clinically worse.

Conservative treatment involves insertion of a nasogastric tube, correction of dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities. Opioid pain relievers may be used for patients with severe pain. Antiemetics may be administered if the patient is vomiting. Adhesive obstructions often settle without surgery. If the obstruction is complete a surgery is usually required.

Most patients do improve with conservative care in 2–5 days. However, on some occasions, the cause of obstruction may be a cancer and in such cases, surgery is the only treatment. These individuals undergo surgery where the cause of SBO is removed. Individuals who have bowel resection or lysis of adhesions usually stay in the hospital a few more days until they are able to eat and walk.

Small bowel obstruction caused by Crohn's disease, peritoneal carcinomatosis, sclerosing peritonitis, radiation enteritis, and postpartum bowel obstruction are typically treated conservatively, i.e. without surgery.

Treatment for sigmoid volvulus may include sigmoidoscopy. If the mucosa of the sigmoid looks normal and pink, place a rectal tube for decompression, correct any fluid, electrolyte, cardiac, renal or pulmonary abnormalities and then take the person to the operating room for repair. If surgery is not performed, there is a high rate of recurrence.

For people with signs of sepsis or an abdominal catastrophe, immediate surgery and resection is advised.

The condition is not usually immediately life-threatening. The intussusception can be treated with either a barium or water-soluble contrast enema or an air-contrast enema, which both confirms the diagnosis of intussusception, and in most cases successfully reduces it. The success rate is over 80%. However, approximately 5–10% of these recur within 24 hours.

Cases where it cannot be reduced by an enema or the intestine is damaged require surgical reduction. In a surgical reduction, the surgeon opens the abdomen and manually squeezes (rather than pulls) the part that has telescoped. If the surgeon cannot successfully reduce it, or the bowel is damaged, they resect the affected section. More often, the intussusception can be reduced by laparoscopy, pulling the segments of intestine apart with forceps.

Some causes of bowel obstruction may resolve spontaneously; many require operative treatment. In adults, frequently the surgical intervention and the treatment of the causative lesion are required. In malignant large bowel obstruction, endoscopically placed self-expanding metal stents may be used to temporarily relieve the obstruction as a bridge to surgery, or as palliation. Diagnosis of the type of bowel obstruction is normally conducted through initial plain radiograph of the abdomen, luminal contrast studies, computed tomography scan, or ultrasonography prior to determining the best type of treatment.

Treatment consists primarily of supportive care including providing bowel rest by stopping enteral feeds, gastric decompression with intermittent suction, fluid repletion to correct electrolyte abnormalities and third-space losses, support for blood pressure, parenteral nutrition, and prompt antibiotic therapy. Monitoring is clinical, although serial supine and left lateral decubitus abdominal x-rays should be performed every six hours. Where the disease is not halted through medical treatment alone, or when the bowel perforates, immediate emergency surgery to resect the dead bowel is generally required, although abdominal drains may be placed in very unstable infants as a temporizing measure. Surgery may require a colostomy, which may be able to be reversed at a later time. Some children may suffer from short bowel syndrome if extensive portions of the bowel had to be removed.

Many people with diverticulosis have minimal to no symptoms, and do not require any specific treatment. Colonic stimulants should be avoided. Treatments, like some colon cleansers, that cause hard stools, constipation, and straining, are not recommended.

Possible treatments include:

- In stable cases, use of laxatives and bulking agents, as well as modifications in diet and stool habits are effective.

- Corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatory medication is used in toxic megacolon.

- Antibiotics are used for bacterial infections such as oral vancomycin for "Clostridium difficile"

- Disimpaction of feces and decompression using anorectal and nasogastric tubes.

- When megacolon worsens and the conservative measures fail to restore transit, surgery may be necessary.

- Bethanechol can also be used to treat megacolon by means of its direct cholinergic action and its stimulation of muscarinic receptors which bring about a parasympathetic like effect.

There are several surgical approaches to treat megacolon, such as a colectomy (removal of the entire colon) with ileorectal anastomosis (ligation of the remaining ileum and rectum segments), or a total proctocolectomy (removal of colon, sigmoid and rectum) followed by ileostomy or followed by ileoanal anastomosis.

Intussusception may become a medical emergency if not treated early, as it eventually causes death if not reduced. In developing countries where medical hospitals are not easily accessible, especially when other problems complicate the intussusception, death becomes almost inevitable. When intussusception or any other severe medical problem is suspected, the person must be taken to a hospital immediately.

The outlook for intussusception is excellent when treated quickly, but when untreated it can lead to death within two to five days. It requires fast treatment, because the longer the intestine segment is prolapsed the longer it goes without bloodflow, and the less effective a non-surgical reduction is. Prolonged intussusception also increases the likelihood of bowel ischemia and necrosis, requiring surgical resection.

Complicated diverticulosis requires treatment of the complication. These complications are often grouped under a single diagnosis of diverticulitis and require skilled medical care of the infection, bleeding and perforation which may include intensive antibiotic treatment, intravenous fluids and surgery. Complications are more common in patients who are taking NSAIDs or aspirin. As diverticulosis occurs in an older population such complications are serious events.

Once a child is born prematurely, thought must be given to decreasing the risk for developing NEC. Toward that aim, the methods of providing hyperalimentation and oral feeds are both important. In a 2012 policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended feeding preterm infants human milk, finding "significant short- and long-term beneficial effects," including reducing the rate of NEC by a factor of two or more.

A study by researchers in Peoria, IL, published in "Pediatrics" in 2008, demonstrated that using a higher rate of lipid (fats and/or oils) infusion for very low birth weight infants in the first week of life resulted in zero infants developing NEC in the experimental group, compared with 14% with NEC in the control group. (They started the experimental group at 2 g/kg/d of 20% IVFE and increased within two days to 3 g/kg/d; amino acids were started at 3 g/kg/d and increased to 3.5.)

Neonatologists at the University of Iowa reported on the importance of providing small amounts of trophic oral feeds of human milk starting as soon as possible, while the infant is being primarily fed intravenously, in order to prime the immature gut to mature and become ready to receive greater oral intake. Human milk from a milk bank or donor can be used if mother's milk is unavailable. The gut mucosal cells do not get enough nourishment from arterial blood supply to stay healthy, especially in very premature infants, where the blood supply is limited due to immature development of the capillaries, so nutrients from the lumen of the gut are needed.

A Cochrane review published in April 2014 has established that supplementation of probiotics enterally "prevents severe NEC as well as all-cause mortality in preterm infants."

Increasing amounts of milk by 30 to 40 ml/kg is safe in infant who are born weighing very little. Not beginning feeding an infant by mouth for more than 4 days does not appear to have protective benefits.

Data from the NICHD Neonatal Research Network's Glutamine Trial showed that the incidence of NEC among extremely low birthweight (ELBW, <1000 g) infants fed with more than 98% human milk from their mothers was 1.3%, compared with 11.1% among infants fed only preterm formula, and 8.2% among infants fed a mixed diet, suggesting that infant deaths could be reduced by efforts to support production of milk by mothers of ELBW newborns.

Research from the University of California, San Diego found that higher levels of one specific human milk oligosaccharide, disialyllacto-N-tetraose, may be protective against the development of NEC.

Depending on the severity of the patient's state, the management of peritonitis may include:

- General supportive measures such as vigorous intravenous rehydration and correction of electrolyte disturbances.

- Antibiotics are usually administered intravenously, but they may also be infused directly into the peritoneum. The empiric choice of broad-spectrum antibiotics often consist of multiple drugs, and should be targeted against the most likely agents, depending on the cause of peritonitis (see above); once one or more agents are actually isolated, therapy will of course be target on them.

- Gram positive and gram negative organisms must be covered. Out of the cephalosporins, cefoxitin and cefotetan can be used to cover gram positive bacteria, gram negative bacteria, and anaerobic bacteria. Beta-lactams with beta lactamase inhibitors can also be used, examples include ampicillin/sulbactam, piperacillin/tazobactam, and ticarcillin/clavulanate. Carbapenems are also an option when treating primary peritonitis as all of the carbapenems cover gram positives, gram negatives, and anaerobes except for ertapenem. The only fluoroquinolone that can be used is moxifloxacin because this is the only fluoroquinolone that covers anaerobes. Finally, tigecycline is a tetracycline that can be used due to its coverage of gram positives and gram negatives. Empiric therapy will often require multiple drugs from different classes.

- Surgery (laparotomy) is needed to perform a full exploration and lavage of the peritoneum, as well as to correct any gross anatomical damage that may have caused peritonitis. The exception is spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which does not always benefit from surgery and may be treated with antibiotics in the first instance.

Distal or sigmoid, fecalomas can often be disimpacted digitally or by a catheter which carries a flow of disimpaction fluid (water or other solvent or lubricant). Surgical intervention in the form of sigmoid colectomy or proctocolectomy and ileostomy may be required only when all conservative measures of evacuation fail.

Mild cases usually do not require treatment and will go away after a few days in healthy people. In cases where symptoms persist or when it is more severe, specific treatments based on the initial cause may be required.

In cases where diarrhoea is present, replenishing fluids lost is recommended, and in cases with prolonged or severe diarrhoea which persists, intravenous rehydration therapy or antibiotics may be required. A simple oral rehydration therapy (ORS) can be made by dissolving one teaspoon of salt, eight teaspoons of sugar and the juice of an orange into one litre of clean water. Studies have shown the efficacy of antibiotics in reducing the duration of the symptoms of infectious enteritis of bacterial origin, however antibiotic treatments are usually not required due to the self-limiting duration of infectious enteritis.

In a cecal volvulus, the cecum may be returned to a normal position and sutured in place, a procedure known as cecopexy. If identified early, before presumed intestinal wall ischemia has resulted in tissue breakdown and necrosis, the cecal volvulus can be detorsed laparoscopically.

With the exception of a few case reports describing survival without surgery, the mortality of untreated Boerhaave syndrome is nearly 100%. Its treatment includes immediate antibiotic therapy to prevent mediastinitis and sepsis, surgical repair of the perforation, and if there is significant fluid loss it should be replaced with IV fluid therapy since oral rehydration is not possible. Even with early surgical intervention (within 24 hours) the risk of death is 25%.

The exact incidence of ischemic colitis is difficult to estimate, as many patients with mild ischemia may not seek medical attention. Ischemic colitis is responsible for about 1 in 2000 hospital admissions, and is seen on about 1 in 100 endoscopies. Men and women are affected equally; ischemic colitis is a disease of the elderly, with more than 90% of cases occurring in people over the age of 60.

Typhlitis is a medical emergency and requires prompt management. Untreated typhlitis has a poor prognosis, particularly if associated with pneumatosis intestinalis (air in the bowel wall) and/or bowel perforation, and has significant morbidity unless promptly recognized and aggressively treated.

Successful treatment hinges on:

1. Early diagnosis provided by a high index of suspicion and the use of CT scanning

2. Nonoperative treatment for uncomplicated cases

3. Empiric antibiotics, particularly if the patient is neutropenic or at other risk of infection.

In rare cases of prolonged neutropenia and complications such as bowel perforation, neutrophil transfusions can be considered but have not been studied in a randomized control trial. Elective right hemicolectomy may be used to prevent recurrence but is generally not recommended

"...The authors have found nonoperative treatment highly effective in patients who do not manifest signs of peritonitis, perforation, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, or clinical deterioration. Recurrent typhlitis was frequent after conservative therapy (recurrence rate, 67 percent), however," as based on studies from the 1980s