Clinical Characteristics of Intussusception with Surgical Reduction: a Single-Center Experience with 568 Cases

A comprehensive scoring system for the better prediction of bowel resection in pediatric intussusception

BACKGROUND

Intussusception presents a significant emergency that often necessitates bowel resection, leading to severe complications and management challenges. This study aims to investigate and establish a scoring system to enhance the prediction of bowel resection necessity in pediatric intussusception patients.

METHODS

This retrospective study analyzed 660 hospitalized patients with intussusception who underwent surgical management at a pediatric hospital in Southwest China from April 2008 to December 2020. The necessity of bowel resection was assessed and categorized in this cohort. Variables associated with bowel resection were examined using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Based on these analyses, a scoring system was developed, grounded on the summation of the coefficients (β).

RESULTS

Among the 660 patients meeting the inclusion criteria, 218 required bowel resection during surgery. Bowel resection occurrence was linked to an extended duration of symptoms (Odds Ratio [OR] = 2.14; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 1.03-5.23; P = 0.0015), the presence of gross bloody stool (OR = 8.98; 95% CI, 1.76-48.75, P < 0.001), elevated C-reactive protein levels (OR = 4.79; 95% CI, 1.12-28.31, P = 0.0072), lactate clearance rate (LCR) (OR = 17.25; 95% CI, 2.36-80.35; P < 0.001), and the intussusception location (OR = 12.65; 95% CI, 1.46-62.67, P < 0.001), as determined by multivariate logistic regression analysis. A scoring system (totaling 14.02 points) was developed from the cumulative β coefficients, with a threshold of 5.22 effectively differentiating infants requiring surgical intervention from others with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), exhibiting a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 71.9%.

CONCLUSIONS

This study successfully identified multiple risk factors for bowel resection and effectively used a scoring system to identify patients for optimal clinical management.

Comparison of Clinical Features of Intussusception in Terms of Age and Duration of Symptoms

OBJECTIVES

Intussusception is one of the most common surgical emergencies in children. We aimed to analyze the current clinical characteristics of intussusception.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed 209 children diagnosed with intussusception, who were admitted to our hospital between January 2009 and August 2022. We grouped the patients according to symptom duration (before and after 12 hours and before and after 24 hours) and age (younger and older than 1 year, and younger and older than 2 years).

RESULTS

The median age at admission was 31 months (2-204 months). The median symptom duration was 12 hours (1-420 hours). Most patients (91.4%) were admitted due to abdominal pain, irritability, and/or vomiting. The most common symptoms were vomiting (70.8%) and abdominal pain (60.6%). The classical triad of symptoms was seen in 9 cases (4.3%). In patients aged younger than 1 year, bloody stool, abnormal abdominal radiography findings, and a longer intussusceptum segment were more frequent. In patients aged younger than 2 years, abdominal pain, fever, and defense on physical examination were less frequent, and irritability, bloody stool, and recurrence were more frequent. Patients aged younger than 2 years had a longer intussusceptum segment and less lymphadenopathy based on ultrasonography (USG). The patients admitted more than 12 hours after symptom onset had more diarrhea, fever, abnormal x-ray, peritoneal fluid on USG, and recurrences, and less vomiting. After the symptoms had lasted for 24 hours, fever, mass palpation, and abnormal abdominal radiography findings were more frequent.

CONCLUSIONS

We recommend performing abdominal USG, especially in young children admitted to the emergency department with complaints of abdominal pain and/or vomiting, to rule out intussusception. In countries that have reported a high mortality rate from intussusception, we advise precautions such as increasing the availability of USG in emergency departments and educating the population to seek early medical assistance.

Clinical characteristics of recurrent intussusception: A single-center retrospective study

PURPOSE

we attempted to summarize the clinical characteristics of recurrent intussusception through a large sample size retrospective study.

METHODS

5778 patients who were diagnosed with intussusception and treated in our hospital between January 2014 and December 2018 were reviewed.

RESULTS

the overall recurrence rate was 20.0%, with the recurrence frequency ranged from 1 to 17 episodes and the recurrence interval ranged from 0 to 5 years. 80.0% (926/1158) patients had only 1 to 2 episodes of recurrence. Most of the patients (88.3%) relapsed within 1 year after successful reduction, among which 616 patients (53.2%) relapsed within 3 days. The recurrence rate of intussusception was the lowest when the age was less than 1 year, increased and kept high level in patients aged from 1 to 5 years old, then decreased after 5 years. The pathologic lead point (PLP) proportion of recurrence group was higher than that of non-recurrence group (2.2% VS 1.2%, P = 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

the overall recurrence rate was 20.0%. Most of the patients had only 1 to 2 episodes of recurrence and relapsed within 1 year after successful reduction. Age and PLP were risk factors for intussusception recurrence.

Effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided hydrostatic reduction for children with acute intussusception

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore the effectiveness and safety of the new-type ultrasound-guided hydrostatic reduction for children with acute intussusception.

METHODS

The clinical data of 364 children with primary acute intussusception who underwent nonsurgical reduction in our hospital between January 2016 and May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Among the 364 children, 119 formed the hydrostatic reduction group. There were 89 males and 30 females, and the average age of admission was 25.13 ± 1.43 months. Among the pneumatic reduction group of 245 patients, there were 163 males and 82 females. The average age of admission was 22.47 ± 1.52 months. The reduction rate, length of stay, and perforation rate were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

Univariate analysis showed that the reduction rate in the hydrostatic group (94.96%) was higher than in the pneumatic group (85.31%) (p = 0.007), and the hospital stay (2.76 ± 0.15 days) of the hydrostatic reduction group was shorter than that of the pneumatic reduction group (3.56 ± 0.35 days) (p = 0.038). In children with intussusception time >48 h, the reduction rate was 95.45% in the hydrostatic reduction group and 86.20% in the pneumatic reduction group.

CONCLUSION

The new-type ultrasound-guided hydrostatic reduction has a higher reduction rate in the treatment of acute intussusception in children results in a shortened hospital stay, It is effective, safe, and avoids radiation exposure.