Abstract
Purpose: Intussusception is one of the most common diseases of the acute abdomen in children. The purpose of this study was to review the clinical features of intussusception in children.
Method: The clinical records of 105 cases with intussusception treated at Kyushu University Hospital from January 2001 to December 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Patients consisted of 51 males and 54 females; 83 of them (80%) were under 3 years old. Hematochezia was the commonest symptom in 57 cases (54.3%), followed by stomachache. Only 9 cases (8.5%) had triad-containing stomachache, vomiting, and hematochezia. However, all cases have at least one of the three symptoms. Eight cases were associated with a causal organic lesion; and 2 of them had malignancy. Surgical treatment was performed in 16 cases (15%), and most of them were treated after 24 hours from the onset. Comparing cases over 3 years old with those under 3 years old, the percentages of cases with an organic lesion and cases requiring surgery in the former were higher than those in the latter. In addition, 2 of 8 cases with an organic lesion presented with malignant lymphoma.
Conclusion: In current study, about 2% of children with intussusception showed malignant disease. Therefore, it was highly recommended that further examinations should be performed to detect organic lesions such as malignant lymphoma or polyps.
