Hirschsprung's Disease at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

Abstract

Summary: Sixty four children who presented with Hirchsprung's disease between 1975 ard 1984 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, were studicd. Twenty-seven (42.2%) of the 64 presented with intestinal obstruction requiring emergency right transverse colosto my in the neonatal period. The remaining 37 (57.8%) presented later with chronic constipation. Enterocolitis and peritonitis did not feature as forms of presentation or complications in the series. A steady rise in the proportion of newborns with Hirsch sprung's disease was observed during the pericd. Diagnosis was established by barium enema and rectal biopsy in all the 64 cases. Only 30 of these children have had defini tive surgery; 16 of them had modified Duhamel's procedure, 12 had Swenson's procedure and two had Soave's procedure. Follow-up periods ranged between 3 and 96 months, with a mean of 45.6 months. The results, classificd into good, satisfactory and poor, were encouraging for Duhamel's and Swenson's procedures, but poor for Soave's procedure. The mortality in the series was 8%; three of the five deaths occurred following colostomy and the remaining two were associated with definitive surgery.