A 6-year retrospective review of histopathological pattern of surgical biopsies in children with refractory constipation in a Tertiary Hospital in Ghana.
Afr J Paediatr Surg
; 15(2): 111-113, 2018.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31290476
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Children with chronic constipation dating to infancy frequently undergo rectal biopsy in order to rule out Hirschsprung's disease (HD) which is a common cause of this sort of presentation. Few publications have however focused on the documentation of the proportion of such patients who truly had histopathological findings confirming the disease. In this preliminary work, we aim to present the histopathological findings of children who had rectal biopsies in our centre from 2009 to 2014. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
A retrospective study was undertaken to review the histopathology reports of all rectal biopsies submitted to the Department of Pathology of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, from 2009 to 2014 on account of refractory constipation and suspected HD. Patient's biodata, clinical signs and symptoms were extracted from the request form.RESULTS:
Eighty-eight cases were seen during the study period with male to female ratio 2.81 and age range 6 months to 10 years. The modal age range is 24-36 months. Seventy-six of the specimens were adequate for histopathological assessment with 64 cases confirmed as HD while 12 cases were normal. Out of the confirmed cases, 3 cases showed absence of ganglion cells but no hypertrophy of nerve fibres.CONCLUSION:
This preliminary work reveals that HD is rarely confirmed by biopsy in early infancy in our setting due to late presentation although the epidemiology of the disease is similar to that reported elsewhere.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rectum
/
Digestive System Surgical Procedures
/
Constipation
/
Tertiary Care Centers
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
Afr J Paediatr Surg
Journal subject:
PEDIATRIA
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: