Intussusception in a private tertiary-care hospital, Bangkok, Thailand: a case series

This was a retrospective case series study of patients with intussusception at a private tertiary-care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The computerized hospital records of all 94 children aged 0-14 years diagnosed with intussusception from 2000 to 2005 were reviewed. About half (51.1%) were males, 23.4% were less than 1 year old. Most (78.7%) were Thai nationals. The highest case frequency was in August (n=12, Poisson means = 7.8, 95% confidence interval 6.3-9.6). Of these, none had the classical triad of vomiting, colicky pain, and mucous bloody stools. Only 12.8% had fever; abdominal mass was detected in 4.3%, and 4.3% had increased bowel sounds, while 34.0% had no specific signs. The most frequent site of intussusception was the ileocolic (62.6%). Stool cultures for bacteria and stool for rotavirus antigen obtained in some cases revealed no significant findings. Of the cases, 10 (10.6%) had spontaneous reduction, 84 (89.4%) underwent barium enema intervention, 10 of the latter (11.9%) required further surgical intervention. There were no mortalities during the observation period. There were 10 recurrent events in this series. The 7-day recurrence-free probability was 84.9% (95% CI 49.2, 96.3%). This study provides baseline data regarding intussusception in Thailand which may be useful for future epidemiological and/or clinical studies.