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Hirschsprung’s Disease: An Historical Review

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Historical Aspects of Pediatric Surgery

Part of the book series: Progress in Pediatric Surgery ((PEDIATRIC,volume 20))

Abstract

The history of Hirschsprung’s disease (congenital megacolon) is a fascinating progression from early, astute observations of an uncommon condition to the present-day more detailed understanding. This progress was not one of steady building on previous careful work, but one of forgotten, dismissed or fallacious theories, ignored isolated observations, and then an almost synchronous appearance of clinical understanding, histological demonstration of the defect and animal experiments leading to effective surgical treatment. In recent years there has been extensive investigation of the underlying pathology in both animals and humans, indicating that our knowledge is incomplete and that treatment needs further refinement.

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  1. Paediatric Surgery Unit, Weastmead Centre, Sydney, 2145, Australia

    D. Cass

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  1. Chirurgische Abteilung, Universitäts-Kinderklinik, Steinwiesstraße 75, CH-8032, Zürich, Switzerland

    Peter Paul Rickham M.D., M.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.S.I., F.R.A.C.S., D.C.H., F.A.A.P.

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Cass, D. (1986). Hirschsprung’s Disease: An Historical Review. In: Rickham, P.P. (eds) Historical Aspects of Pediatric Surgery. Progress in Pediatric Surgery, vol 20. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70825-1_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70825-1_15

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