Abstract

GARCIA-ARIAS, Fabián  and  CECILIANO-ROMERO, Norma. Surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s disease at the National Children’s Hospital “Dr. Carlos Saenz Herrera” during the period 2000-2010. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2013, vol.55, n.2, pp.87-91. ISSN 0001-6002.

Background: Hirschsprung´s disease (congenital megacolon) is a common cause of lower bowel obstruction in neonates. Its main characteristic is that a section of the bowel is unable to relax, causing functional colonic obstruction. Treatment for this disease requires the resection of the abnormal bowel segment in order to restore the functions of the healthy part of the intestine. The management and its epidemiology of this disease at the National Children´s Hospital during the period 2000 to 2010 were analyzed. Methods: observational and retrospective study, 130 files were reviewed using Microsoft Excel and the JMP^® statistical software. Results: a male: female ratio was 4:1, most cases occurred in full term babies, and the most common initial symptoms were abdominal distension and bilious vomiting. In 78% of the cases the age at which the disease occurred was less than one month. Among the surgical techniques used, the Duhamel technique was the most used (48%), followed by the transanal pull-through technique (35%). The most common postoperative complication for the Duhamel group was rectal septum (8 out of 21 cases), and enterocolitis in the transanal pull-through group (14 out of 19 cases). Conclusion: the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the cases of Hirschsprung’s Disease analyzed are similar to those reported in the literature. The postoperative complications and morbidity was similar for both surgical techniques.

Keywords : Hirschsprung disease; colonic aganglionosis; Congenital Megacolon.

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