Does the length of the history influence the outcome of pneumatic reduction of intussusception in children?

Intussusception is the most common cause of acute abdomen in infants and preschool children. Nonoperative reduction using air enema is an established treatment in children with intussusception. The aim of this study was to determine whether length of the history influences the outcome of pneumatic reduction of intussusception in children?

The medical records of 256 consecutive children with intussusception between July 1998 and June 2010, who underwent air enema reduction regardless of the length of the history were reviewed. In all 256 patients, intussusception was confirmed by ultrasound before proceeding to air enema.

The length of history ranged from 2 to 240 h with median time of 18.5 h. The median age in 256 patients was 7 months (range 1 day to 12 years). The presenting clinical features included irritability/abdominal pain (77%), vomiting (80%), bleeding per rectum (36%) and palpable abdominal mass (50%). Air enema reduction was successful in 234 (91.5%) of the 256 patients. In 22 (8.5%) patients, air enema failed to reduce the intussusception and 3 (1.1%) of these patients had colonic perforation during the procedure. All 22 patients required surgery. The duration of symptoms did not influence the outcome of pneumatic reduction. 37 (14%) patients developed recurrence after successful pneumatic reduction of intussusception, with 58% presenting within 48 h of the initial procedure.

Our data suggest that pneumatic reduction should be first-line treatment in all children with intussusception regardless of the length of the history.