Intussusception: A 14-year experience at a UK tertiary referral centre

Aims

Intussusception is the most common cause of acute intestinal obstruction in infants. First line management in uncomplicated cases at our centre is fluoroscopy guided air enema reduction. This study reports a 14 year UK single centre experience highlighting management and outcomes of intussusception in children.

Methods

All cases of intussusception (ICD 10-code K56.1) at a single tertiary referral centre from 2004 to 2017 were analyzed. Data evaluated included patient demographics, clinical presentation, treatment modality(s), complications and outcome(s).

Results

Two hundred ninety confirmed cases (69% male) of intussusception were identified during the study period. The median age at presentation was 9.5 months (range 4 days–15 years). One hundred eighty-six (64%) cases occurred in children who were transferred to Alder Hey from peripheral district hospitals. One hundred ninety-six cases (68%) proceeded directly to air enema reduction and successful reduction was achieved in 129 cases (66%). A single case (0.5%) of attempted air enema reduction was complicated by perforation. Early recurrence rate following air enema reduction was 9%. Operative management was indicated in 140 (48%) cases of which 66 required bowel resection (47%). There were no deaths.

Conclusions

We highlight one of the largest single centre UK studies defining practice outcomes for intussusception across the British Isles. Our centre has achieved a 66% success rate of non-operative reduction over 14 years in line with the British Society Pediatric Radiology (BSPR) recommendations and within 5% of the national median metric (71%). Moreover these outcomes were achieved with a very low complication rate (0.5%) from air enema reduction and no mortality in the series.

Type of study

Retrospective study.

Level of evidence

III