The management of anorectal malformations

From 1982 to 1990, 120 cases of anorectal malformation (84 males and 36 females) were admitted to Mackay Memorial Hospital; 101 cases were corrected surgically. Among these, 40 cases were high (H) or intermediate (I) type, and 61 cases were low (L) type. In the 40 cases of the H and I type, 13 (Group 1) received Stephens' procedure (SPR) and the remaining 27 (Group 2) received Peña's procedure (PSARP). For the L type, translocation anoplasty, cut-back anoplasty and limited PSARP were employed in 10, 45 and 6 cases, respectively. Anorectal continence results were evaluated by Kiesewetter's criteria. In Group 1, the results were good in 25%, fair in 17% and poor in 58%. In Group 2, the results were good in 70% and fair in 30%. In addition to better anorectal continence, the PSARP resulted in a lower rate of major complications. In the L type, the results were excellent without significant difference among the types of surgery employed.