Intussusception in a 10 week old-Can occur though rare

Asish Bhakta

Bhakta Clinic and Nursing Home, India

Abstract

Background: Intussusception is in fact a very rare cause of Intestinal obstruction in neonates and infants < 3 months of age. Our observation is that Intussusception, though very rare, should be considered as a possibility when the presentation looks like intestinal obstruction in this particular age group of patients.

Case characteristics: A 10-wks-old baby boy was presented to our clinic with a history of bile stained vomiting for 4days and passage of bloody stool twice during the same period at home.

Observation: Bile stained vomiting, bloody stool, abdominal distension, multiple fluid levels in erect x-ray abdomen and the classical Doughnut and sandwich sign in USG led to the diagnosis of Intussusception.

Outcome: The baby boy was successfully treated with surgery. The immediate post-operative period and follow up thereafter was uneventful until at 1.5 years of age when he developed another episode of acute intestinal obstruction which unfortunately put an end to the life of the baby before operation could be done

Message: Intussusception is the most common cause of Intestinal obstruction in a child aged 3 mo to 3 yrs. Inspite of being very rare under 3 months of age, it should be included in the differential diagnosis when we approach a baby in this age group presenting with features like vomiting, abdominal distension and lethargy suggestive of either sepsis with NEC or malrotation with volvulus or hernia with strangulation.

Key words: Bile vomiting, bloody stool, Doughnut and Sandwich sign.

Biography

Asish Bhakta was born in the year 1957 at his village at Mahishadal, Purba-Medinipur, West-Bengal, and had been nurtured at Mahishadal Raj High School till he passed the Higher Secondary examination in 1973 with National Scholarship. In the year 1974 he got qualified for admission to MBBS course at R G Kar Medical College; under University of Calcutta and passed out in 1981; did House-physician-ship in Pediatrics in his mother institution. Thereafter he devoted himself to serve the pediatrics population in his native place as a doctor. Later in 2013 he met Dr Anja Bhattacharyya, the renowned Developmental Paediatrician in the Child Development Center, Apollo Glen-eagles Hospital Kolkata. That was the turning point in his life. He was inspired to pursue post-graduate studies under the mentorship of Dr Anjan Bhattacharyya and achieved the prestigious qualifications: DCH/IPPC (Sydney University) in 2014 and DCH (U.K) -RCPCH (UK) in 2018.