Transanal pull-through procedure for Hirschsprung's disease: a 5-year experience.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Transanal endorectal pull-through (TEPT) has become a widely used approach for the treatment of Hirschsprung's Disease. The technique is safe and, according to previous reports, it has a good clinical outcome. In this study our experience with TEPT in the early postoperative period is evaluated. METHODS: The clinical course of 34 children (28 boys and 6 girls) who underwent one-stage pull-through operation according to De la Torre for Hirschsprung's disease from January 2003 to December 2007 was reviewed. Their ages ranged from 2 months to 4 years. Complications occurring within the first four weeks after operation were analyzed. RESULTS: Eight of 34 children (24 %) had early complications in the form of dehiscences of the anastomosis. Two children (6 %) had symptomatic anastomotic dehiscences. One child had an almost full retraction of the colon that had to be pulled down and resutured. One child developed a retrorectal abscess three weeks postoperatively due to anastomotic leakage. The dehiscences of 6 children (18 %) were asymptomatic. These dehiscences were detected only with standardized routine examination. The dehiscences healed uneventfully after resuturing. Two other patients (6 %) developed an anastomotic stricture that could be treated with rectal dilatations. Four children (12 %) showed a single episode of postoperative enterocolitis. CONCLUSION: The rate of early clinical and particularly subclinical complications such as anastomotic dehiscences after TEPT is higher than previously estimated. Patients should be monitored carefully during the early postoperative period. Severe complications can only be avoided with a thorough examination. Early resuturing of dehiscences might be helpful to prevent hazardous sequelae.