This retrospective study examines the size of the pyloric tumour at the tim
e of surgery in 100 patients (76 boys, 24 girls) operated over a 2.75 years
period from June 1993 to March 1996. The size of the pyloric tumour was cl
assified into one of three categories (short, moderate or large) by the ope
rating consultant and. documented in the operation note.
This study supports the view that the pyloric tumour increases in size with
the progressing age of a baby.
Nowadays the diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) is made on av
erage 2 weeks earlier than in a similar study 4 decades ago.
Two thirds of the patients in the subgroup with short- and moderate-size py
loric tumours did not require any imaging technique to arrive at the diagno
sis. Unexpectedly a more frequent use of imaging techniques was required in
the subgroup of large pyloric tumours; large tumours tend to present as an
ill-defined fullness in the right upper quadrant rather than a distinct ol
ive.