Clinical features of Hirschsprung’s disease in infants：An analysis of 159 cases

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the clinical features and prognosis of Hirschsprung’s disease（HD） in infants，and to guide early clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods：A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data and postoperative follow-up data of 159 infants（aged 0-90 days） with HD who underwent surgical treatment in our department from 2011 to 2016. Results：The male/female ratio was 8.35∶1 among all 159 infants with HD；as for the manifestation of disease onset，94.3% had abdominal disten－sion，76.1% had vomiting，71.4% had delayed discharge of meconium，and 44.0% had constipation. The diagnostic accuracies of barium enema（BE），anorectal manometry（ARM），and rectal suction biopsy（RSB） were 84.8%，93.2%，and 96.6%，respectively，and there was a significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between these auxiliary examinations（ χ2=13.872，P=0.001）. There were no signifi－cant differences between pathological groups in the diagnostic accuracies of BE（ χ2=2.273，P=0.518），ARM（ χ2=1.297，P=0.730），and RSB（ χ2=1.355，P=0.716）. All infants were cured after surgical treatment and were then discharged. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 9.42 days，and major postoperative complications included enterocolitis（10.7%），incision infection（2.5%），and rupture of incision（1.3%）. Conclusion：Major clinical manifestations of HD in infants include abdominal distension and vomiting. Since these clinical manifestations lack specificity，ARM，BE，and RSB help with early diagnosis. Early surgery has a good clinical effect with few complications and rapid recovery.