Reducing Underdiagnosis of Hirschsprung-Associated Enterocolitis: A Novel Scoring System

Hirschsprung-Associated Enterocolitis (HAEC) is a life-threatening and difficult to diagnose complication of Hirschsprung Disease (HSCR). The goal of this study was to evaluate existing HAEC scoring systems and develop a new scoring system.

Retrospective, multi-institutional data collection was performed. For each patient, all encounters were analyzed. Data included demographics, symptomatology, laboratory and radiographic findings, and treatments received. A "true" diagnosis of HAEC was defined as receipt of treatment with rectal irrigations, antibiotics, and bowel rest. The Pastor and Frykman scoring systems were evaluated for sensitivity/specificity and univariate and multivariate logistic regression performed to create a new scoring system.

Four centers worldwide provided data on 200 patients with 1450 encounters and 369 HAEC episodes. Fifty-seven percent of patients experienced one or more episodes of HAEC. Long-segment colonic disease was associated with a higher risk of HAEC on univariate analysis (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.43-2.57). Six variables were significantly associated with HAEC on multivariate analysis. Using published diagnostic cutoffs, sensitivity/specificity for existing systems were found to be 38.2%/96% for Pastor's and 56.4%/86.9% for Frykman's score. A new scoring system with a sensitivity/specificity of 67.8%/87.9% was created by stepwise multivariate analysis. The new score outperformed the existing scores by decreasing underdiagnosis in this patient cohort.

Existing scoring systems perform poorly in identifying episodes of HAEC, resulting in significant underdiagnosis. The proposed scoring system may be better at identifying those underdiagnosed in the clinical setting. Head-to-head comparison of HAEC scoring systems using prospective data collection may be beneficial to achieve standardization in the field.