Published in:
01-04-2016 | Original Article
5 years after an ACE: what happens then?
Authors:
Clara Chong, Neil Featherstone, Shazia Sharif, Abraham Cherian, Peter Cuckow, Imran Mushtaq, Paolo De Coppi, Kate Cross, Joseph Curry
Published in:
Pediatric Surgery International
|
Issue 4/2016
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Abstract
Purpose
Antegrade continence enema (ACE) revolutionised the lives of children with chronic constipation and soiling. Parents often ask how long the ACE will be required. We looked at our patients 5 years after ACE formation to answer the question.
Methods
We reviewed clinical notes of all patients undergoing ACE procedure during January 1990 to December 2010. Only patients with >5 years follow-up were included. Data are given as median (range).
Results
133 patients were included with >5 years of follow-up. Primary pathology was anorectal anomaly (ARA) 64 (48 %); spinal dysraphism (SD) 40 (30 %); functional constipation (FC) 14 (10 %); Hirschsprung’s Disease (HD) 10 (8 %) and others 5 (4 %). Median follow-up was 7 years (5–17 years). Overall 74 % still use their ACE; whilst 26 % no longer access their stoma, of whom 47 % recovered normal colonic function. 50 % of HD patient recover colonic function. FC has the highest failure rate at 21 %.
Conclusions
Overall 86 % achieved excellent clinical outcome with 74 % of patient still using their ACE at 5 years. HD has the highest recovery rate of 50 %. FC has a more unreliable clinical outcome with 21 % recovered colonic function and 21 % failed. Outcome varied dependent on the background diagnosis.