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Can intussusceptions of small bowel and colon be transient? A prospective study

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Abstract

We performed a prospective study to explore a diagnosis and treatment protocol of transient intussusception in children (TIC). Totally, 143 children with intussusception who met the inclusion criteria were firstly divided into intussusception involving only the small bowel and intussusception involving the colon group. And in each group, they were further divided into short-segment (≤ 3.0 cm) and long-segment (> 3.0 cm) groups according to the length of intussusception. After a period of conservative treatment, the incidence of TIC, the incidence of surgery, and recurrence were collected and analyzed. Finally, we found that the incidence of TIC in the short-segment group of small bowel intussusception (96.29%) was significantly higher than that in other groups (P ≤ 0.001). Besides, the incidence of surgery and recurrence in this group was relatively low too. Therefore, we summarized the inclusion criteria and treatments to the short-segment group of small bowel intussusception as the suggested protocol to TIC.

Conclusion: For cases of small bowel intussusception with no identified pathologic lead point, a short duration of symptoms, a length of ≤ 3.0 cm, a relatively abundant vascular flow signal, and a stable general condition, the spontaneous reduction could be expected and a period of conservative treatment with careful monitoring is recommended.

What is Known:

• The phenomenon of spontaneous reduction in intussusception (transient intussusception) among pediatric patients has been widely reported.

• To distinguish the transient intussusception from the other types is important for the transient ones only need conservative treatment rather than enema reduction or surgery.

What is New:

• This is the first prospective study to explore a diagnosis and treatment protocol of transient intussusception in children.

• Short-segment small bowel intussusceptions have a higher rate (96.29%) to get spontaneous reduction than the other types of intussusception.

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Abbreviations

CDI:

Color Doppler image

DOS:

Duration of symptoms

PLP:

Pathological lead point

TIC:

Transient intussusception in children

US:

Ultrasound

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Author notes

  1. Qi Wang and Mengqi Luo contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Qi Wang, Xiaolong Xie, Yang Wu & Bo Xiang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Centre for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Mengqi Luo

Authors
  1. Qi Wang
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  2. Mengqi Luo
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  3. Xiaolong Xie
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  4. Yang Wu
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  5. Bo Xiang
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Contributions

Qi Wang: participated in the design of this study, acquired and analyzed the data, drafted this manuscript, and agreed on the final version of this manuscript.

Mengqi Luo: participated in the design of this study, run statistical analysis of the data, drafted this manuscript, and agreed on the final version of this manuscript.

Xiaolong Xie: participated in the design of this study and agreed on the final version of this manuscript.

Yang Wu: designed this study, critically revised this manuscript, and agreed on the final version of this manuscript.

Bo Xiang: designed this study, critically revised this manuscript, and agreed on the final version of this manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bo Xiang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Communicated by Piet Leroy

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Wang, Q., Luo, M., Xie, X. et al. Can intussusceptions of small bowel and colon be transient? A prospective study. Eur J Pediatr 178, 1537–1544 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03455-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03455-z

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