Invagination of the intestine and its characteristic features

Increasingly, there is such a diagnosis as intussusception of the intestine. This is the introduction of one gut into another. Most often this disease occurs in infants. As a rule, the cause is a violation of peristalsis, when a certain area of the circular musculature is constantly subjected to spasm.

Invagination of the intestines in children is most often observed at the age of about 4 months and up to a year. Sometimes this disease can occur at the age of two to three years. This is due to changes in the diet of the baby. Such a diagnosis is often put on well-fed children, rather than lean. Manifestations of the disease begin suddenly: the child expresses anxiety, without apparent cause, cries, which is accompanied by the clenching of the legs to the stomach. In general, it becomes clear that the cause of childhood sickness is abdominal pain. As a rule, the disease has the following symptoms.

1. Attacks of pain, as a rule, are sharp. They are very strong, their duration is small, but they are systematically repeated at short intervals. Between these attacks the child's condition is normalized: he can play, even fall asleep.
2. Changes in the stool: first, it does not have abnormalities, because the stool masses from the lower part of the intestine depart. Later, mucus appears with an admixture of blood. Depending on the degree of complication of the disease, these signs may appear in the first few hours, but often it happens much later, perhaps within a day. The feces that are characteristic of intussusception of the intestine are similar to dense currant jelly. Sometimes just a brown liquid is released. Invagination of the intestine on the chair affects differently: many children after the first emptying have flatulence and stool retention. Some suffer from diarrhea.
3. Vomiting accompanies pain. Sometimes it stops, but after a few hours it resumes. Its repetition is associated with a constant irritation of the abdominal cavity and a violation of the patency of the intestine.

Also intussusception of the intestine in the stage of exacerbation is accompanied by blushing of the facial skin. If you do not provide the child with the necessary help in time, the manifestations of the disease become similar to those of peritonitis. If this happens, it is urgent to call an ambulance. The doctor, after palpating the abdomen, diagnoses or refutes the diagnosis of "intussusception of the intestine." Whatever the result of the examination, it is necessary in any case to contact the clinic for further treatment.

Disease according to clinical manifestations is divided into:

1. Acute intussusception (approximately 98% of cases).
2. Chronic invaginations, which are characterized by the formation of adhesions, caused by the development of the inflammatory process (less than 1%).
3. Recurrent invaginations (approximately 0.5%).

Treatment of intussusception includes a continuous blow-through, which is performed under general anesthesia using the Richardson technique. Relapse after the use of conservative treatment is extremely rare.

There are a number of contraindications against the use of conservative treatment:

1. The presence of bleeding in the rectum.
2. If the radiograph shows obstruction of the small intestine.
3. When more than 18 hours passed from the first signs of the disease .
4. Children older than a year or younger than 3 months.
5. Presence of recurrent intussusception.

The method of operative treatment is laparoscopic and laparotomy. Invagination of the intestine after the application of surgery is repeated even less often than after conservative treatment.

As a rule, conservative treatment is used only at the beginning of the development of the disease and in the case when intussusception of the sigmoid colon is observed . If the case is serious, bowel removal is prescribed.