Childhood intussusception

Intussusception of the intestine continues to be a significant surgical disease of childhood. The currently accepted therapy is to do a barium enema, followed by a laparotomy, if necessary. To evaluate our results in treating this disease, the charts of the last 169 patients admitted to the hospital, with the diagnosis of intussusception, were reviewed. Intussusception was confirmed in 157 patients, 92 of whom underwent successful reduction by barium enema (59 per cent). Sixty-four were treated with laparotomy (41 per cent). Of these 64, 34 were reduced manually (22 per cent) and 30 required resection (19 per cent). Two patients died (1.3 per cent). Our experience is in general agreement with that of other reported series, and we conclude that hydrostatic barium enema reduction is the treatment of choice for intussusception during childhood. Laparotomy should be reserved for those patients in whom the barium enema was unsuccessful.