[Arguments against routine surgery for acute intestinal intussusception. Apropos of 220 cases].

220 children with intussusception were treated at Rouen Children's Hospital between 1969 and 1981. The patients are separated in four groups according to the treatment: --primary operation without barium enema, --operation after failure of the barium enema, --surgical control after reduction by barium enema, --barium enema alone. This study shows that in the third group, the operation did not demonstrate neither any "lead-point", nor any intestinal damage requiring resection. A "lead-point" or an intestinal lesion have been found only in intussusceptions which had not been reduced by barium enema. Thus, one can conclude that a surgical control is useless when the barium enema is successful. The technique of the enema is described.