Duhamel’s Procedure

Abstract

Since Duhamel introduced a new operative technique for Hirschsprung’s disease in infants in 1956 [1, 2], his procedure has gained wide acceptance worldwide. A recent British Association of Pediatric Surgeons’ survey confirmed that 62% of consultants prefer Duhamel’s technique for children with Hirschsprung’s disease [3]. The principle of Duhamel’s technique is to exclude the rectum instead of removing it. The proximal normally innervated colon is pulled through a simple cleavage of the rectal space. The colon then appears at the posterior wall of the anal canal. A large enterotomy connects the excluded rectum with the pulled-through colon and the newly created rectum has an anterior aganglionic and a posterior ganglionic bowel.