The Changing Face of Childhood Intussusception: A Refinement in the Technique of Saline Reduction and Outcome.

AIMS: Intussusception is a common pediatric surgical emergency and an indicator for primary healthcare. We report our experience with childhood intussusception at a tertiary care hospital in the private sector in Central Kerala and add our refinement to the technique of hydrostatic saline reduction which had more desirable outcome.

SETTINGS AND

DESIGN

Children presenting with the diagnosis of intussusception which were managed in our department of pediatric surgery at a private hospital in Kerala, India.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

Eighty children, up to 15 years of age, (43 boys, 37 girls) confirmed to have intussusception on ultrasound and managed in our institution from October 2016 to July 2020 with hydrostatic saline reduction. Sixty-two (77%) of them were aged 3 months to 3 years (numbers <10 to be written in words); the age of idiopathic intussusception.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS V25. Association between variables using Chi square test and independent t test.

RESULTS

A total of 80 children met the criteria out of that (n = 79) had successful nonoperative reduction. Hydrostatic saline enema 73, One Barium and five air enema. A child presented in shock was taken up for laparotomy and reduced operatively. Six recurred within 24 h (7% early recurrence) and a second attempt at nonoperative reduction succeeded in all six of them. (numbers <10 in words). Eleven children (14%) had a late recurrence, the attempt at saline hydrostatic reduction was successful in only 3 (27%) and 8 went on to have surgery. Six were successfully reduced operatively and 2 had resection anastomosis.

CONCLUSIONS

After excluding those who need surgery on clinical grounds, we report a 98.7% success with nonoperative reduction for the first instance of intussusception, a 24 h recurrence of 7%, with successful repeat reductions in all. With the refinement in the technique, we could achieve a desirable outcome. At the first presentation, surgery was indicated in 1 of the 80 children. We report a late recurrence rate of 14%, with a 27% success rate for nonoperative reduction. No pathological lead points were identified even in this group. All the children had an uneventful and a faster recovery. In our series, we had 97.5% follow-up rate.