Etiopathogenic theory of ileocecocolic intussusception

Right hemicolectomy was done in a three and a half month old infant presenting irreductible acute intestinal intussusception. Analysis of the anatomical specimen allowed confirmation of the authors' histological theory on the genesis of infantile intussusception. Histological study demonstrated the key elements of this theory: thickness of the cecal musculosa clearly less than that of the right colon, thereby accounting for the lesser resistance of the former; contribution to the outer longitudinal muscle fibers of the ileum and colon to the constitution of the ileocecal valve commissures. These longitudinal muscle fibers did not span across the base of the ileocecal valve.