Surgery for Bowel Obstruction in Ovarian Cancer - AMA ...
journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2004/10/cprl1-0410.html
by J Reenan - ‎2004 - ‎Cited by 3 - ‎Related articles
Palliative surgery can be considered for terminally ill patients with bowel ... or tympanic bowel sounds (partial obstruction); History of infrequent bowel ...

i.e. drum-like sounds


the bowel sounds are not just positive, but there is a distinct drum-like sound on percussion

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Note added at 6 hrs (2016-02-05 17:38:12 GMT)
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More info:

http://www.turner-white.com/pdf/hp_sep00_percus.pdf
PERCUSSION OF THE ABDOMEN Technique On general percussion, the tympanic sound is heard at most regions of the abdomen. Different qualities of the tympanic sound at various areas of the abdomen are caused by uneven location of abdominal gas. The liver is percussed at the right midclavicular line. The dull sound typical of a normal liver starts at the upper edge of the sixth rib and ends at the lower edge of the 10th rib just at the costal margin.9 The spleen can be percussed at the area parallel to the left 10th rib at the left anterior axillar and axillar lines.5–7 Spleen percussion produces relative dullness, because only a small surface of the normal spleen is superficial enough to be detected. It is somewhat easier to percuss the spleen in a patient placed in the right decubitus position.