Patent omphalomesenteric duct.

Abstract

THERE have been 134 cases of patent omphalomesenteric duct reported, which figure probably does not reflect its true incidence. Of this number, 30 have been complicated by ileal prolapse, with only four operative recoveries. Many of these reports were made before the advent of present-day surgical technics and antibiotic adjuncts. It is thought that today early clinical recognition of patent omphalomesenteric duct and its complications coupled with prompt surgical intervention plus the aid of antibiotics should result in a considerably lower mortality for this condition. Because of this, the successful treatment of a case of patent omphalomesenteric duct with ileal prolapse is deemed worthy of report. Anomalies in the umbilical region of clinical significance are rare. Consequently, their importance, embryologic origins, and clinical recognition were long ignored. In 1904 Cullen,1who up to that time had thought that hernia constituted the main lesion in this locality, was at a