Objective To study the effect of octreotide on patients with postoperative acute adhesive small bowel obstruction. Method In this study, 87 patients with postoperative acute adhesive small bowel obstruction were divided into 2 groups: experimental group (46 patients) and control group (41 patients). Patients in the control group were treated with routine therapy, including gastrointestinal decompression, intravenous infusion, antibiotic and enema. Patients in the experimental group were treated with routine therapy plus somatostatin analogue (octreotide) 0.1 mg. ih q8 h. for 72 hour. The alleviation of abdominal symptom and sign and the possibility of surgical intervention are observed and compared.Results Compared to the control group, the obstruction in the experimental group alleviated significantly,the abdominal pain relieved, the amount of draining decreased, and the passage of gas was earlier.Conclusions Based on the routine therapy, the use of octreotide significantly relieves the symptoms of obstruction and shortens the course of conservative therapy.