Although accounting for 90 % of the intestinal surface area, small bowel adenocarcinomas are not common. The majority of these lesions are incidentally detected during laparotomy for intestinal obstruction or perforation. The symptoms associated with these lesions are not very specific and preoperative diagnosis is rare. We report two cases of jejunal adenocarcinomas detected in patients undergoing laparotomy for acute abdomen and review the literature for small bowel adenocarcinomas.