[Methods of surgical treatment of Hirschsprung's disease in newborns]

Fifty-nine newborn infants with Hirschsprung's disease were treated at the Saint-Petersburg Center of Surgery of Developmental Anomalies from 1978 to 1991. The typical rectosigmoid form was found in 47.5% and a long zone of agangliosis in 35.6% of children. Mortality rate--16.7%. According to the development of enterocolitis, three variants of the course of the disease in the newborns were distinguished. It is shown that the informativeness of the diagnostic methods increases with the growth of the infants, and the final diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease is best established at the age of over two weeks on the basis of repeated or initially postponed contrast study of the large intestine. Inefficacy of nonoperative treatment conducted for 2-3 days and recurrence of symptoms of intestinal obstruction are indications for operative decompression of the intestine. The performance of one-stage radical operation at the age of about one month is advisable in an uncomplicated course of the disease.