A COMPARISON OF COLO-COLIC AND ILEOCOLIC INTUSSUSCEPTION

There are many differences in the clinical features of intussusception between African and temperate countries. The records of 192 patients with intussusception who presented to the Pediatric Surgical Service a t King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa during a 10-year per iod were reviewed. Compared with temperate countries, the patients wer e older (median, 1 year 7 months), presented later (median, 4.2 days), had a higher proportion of colo-colic lesions (17%), had absence of p rimary bowel pathology, and had a high surgical rate (82%). To define clinically important differences, the clinical and pathological featur es of 158 cases of ileo-colic intussusceptions were compared with 34 c olo-colic cases. Compared with the ileo-colic group, colo-colic lesion s occurred in older children (median, 3.8 years) (v 1.5 years; P < .00 1). In the colo-colic group, there were fewer shocked and pyrexial pat ients, and the rate of successful nonoperative reduction was higher. T he groups had a similar incidence of surgical intervention (82%). In t he ileo-colic group, there was a higher mortality rate and more compli cations, but only the higher resection rate (P < .001) was statistical ly significant. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company.