All issues > Volume 31(12); 1988

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1988;31(12):1626-1632. Published online December 31, 1988.

Perforation of the Gastointestinal Tract in Infancy and Childhood.

S J Lee¹, Y S Kim¹, H D Cha¹, T C Kwon¹, C M Kang¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Taegu, Korea

Received: June 20, 1988;  Accepted: June 20, 1988.

Abstract

Thirty-nine patients with perforations of the gastrointestinal tract proved by operation were presented. 35.9% of perforations were between the age of 6-10 year and 20.5% were Neonates. Male to female ratio was 2:1. The cardinal symptom of the perforation was abdominal pain in older child and abdominal distention in the neonates. Abdominal X-ray showed subphrenic free air shadow in 48.7% of the total cases. The subphrenic free air was seen much more (88.9%) in stomach and duodenal perforation than other parts. The location of perforation by order of frequency were ileum, jejunum, duodenum and stomach. The causes of perforation were typhoid fever, ulcer, trauma and intestinal obstruction in order. Necrotizing enterocolitis, meconium ileus and congenital megacolon were the causes of neonatal perforation. The over all mortality was 17.9% while the mortality of Neonatal perforation was 50.0%. The brief review of Literature was made.

Keywords :Perforation Gastrointestinal tract