TITLE:
Alimentary tract duplications in infancy and childhood. A 25-year experience with focus on rare types of the disease
AUTHORS:
Nick Zavras, Efstratios Christianakis, Dimitrios Papakonstantinou, Konstantinos Velaoras, Konstantinos Tsilikas, Khalil Ereikat
KEYWORDS:
Alimentary Tract; Duplication; Infants; Children
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.3 No.4,
November
27,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Background: Alimentary tract
duplications (ATDs) are rare congenital anomalies of the gut tube, seen mainly
in neonates and infants. Their presentations are often mimicking other
conditions, thus posing a diagnostic challenge. Surgical treatment is required
in all cases. Objective: The aim of this study is to present our experience in
the diagnosis and management of this condition. Subjects and Method: We,
retrospectively, reviewed 7 duplications in 7 patients and analyzed sex, age,
clinical presentation, location, complications, diagnostic work-up, surgical
methods and post-operative course. Encountered diagnostic and surgical
difficulties were also reviewed in two extremely rare cases. Results: Patients’
age varied between 2 months and 10 years. All duplications were single. Six of
them were intra-abdominal and one thoracoabdominal Three ADTs were asymptomatic
and discovered during routine X-ray imaging. One ADT involving the cecum was
mimicking appendicitis and complicated by recurrent intussusceptions. The
thoracoabdominal one proved a surgical challenge as it was a completely
isolated ATD. All patients underwent surgery without postoperative complications.
We conclude that despite their rarity, ATDs require a high level of clinical
suspicion, especially if they are presented as thoracic masses. Appropriate
diagnostic investigation of the pediatric patients is always necessary to avoid
delay in diagnosis.