Intussusception in infants and children. An analysis of 300 cases.

Abstract

Intussusception is the most frequent cause of intestinal obstruction in children between the ages of two months and five years. It may occur at any age, but the peak incidence has been shown to lie between the third and eleventh month of life. 5 In this series, 79.3% of the patients were under two years of age and 96.6% of the patients were under five years (Table 1). Etiology The etiology of intussusception remains obscure in the vast majority of instances, and 85% to 90% of all cases reported are of the idiopathic variety. There have been numerous attempts to explain idiopathic intussusception on the basis of abnormal bands or peritoneal folds at the ileocecal junction 8 ; as a complication of an adenoviral inflammatory process involving the small bowel 10 ; as the result of mechanical factors associated with an increased amount of adipose and hypertrophic lymphoid tissue within the mesenteric