Colon perforation during attempted barium enema reduction of intussusception

Pneumatic reduction of childhood intussusception. Is prediction of failure important?

“…In the present series, only a minority (7.3%) of the cases needed laparotomy for manual reduction; it acquires particular relevance because of the high proportion of delayed diagnoses (32%). Air pressure enema is a simple and lowcost procedure presenting negligible morbidity; the current series presented a recurrence rate of 6.5% and only 1 episode of perforation, which does not support the opinion that air enema may be associated with morbidity rates higher than those of barium enema [3,9,10].…”

“…The current study supports the assumption that there is no significant association between age and efficacy of enema reduction. Age poses different issues, such as a higher perforation rate during attempted enema in younger infants and a higher proportion of lead points in older children [9].…”

Unenhanced CT in the Diagnosis of Small Bowel Intussusception

“…Our case had a 5-day history of food intolerance and 3 days of bilious vomiting, which are indicative of intestinal obstruction (5). Although the time from diagnosis to the operation was Ͻ 4 h, our patient still had a bowel perforation due to the delay in seeking medical attention.…”

Essential Diagnosis of Abdominal Emergencies in the First Year of Life

“…Approximately 40% of ileoileocolic intussusceptions will have a pathologic lead point. Because of the anatomical location, these are more difficult to reduce and often present with an abdominal radiograph consistent of a small bowel obstruction [132,138]. Appendicocolic, cecocolic, colocolic, jejunojejunal and ileoileal also are described [132] and typically involve older patients.…”