African Journal of Paediatric Surgery : AJPS

BACKGROUND: Bezoars are indigestible lumps which are usually found in stomach. Types of bezoar include phytobezoar, trichobezoar, lithobezoar, pharmacobezoar, plasticobezoar, lactobezoar and metal bezoar. Trichobezoars mostly affect females in 20s and 30s with a rarity in paediatrics. Unexplained complaints with a palpable mass are commonly found in these patients. Treatment involves retrieval of mass with searching for others. The purpose of this study was to present data and surgical management of cases with trichobezoars...

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly spread worldwide and affected the healthcare system, including the deferral of surgical practice. There are various reactions regarding delayed surgeries, but parental viewpoints towards circumcision remain scarce. In light of the pandemic, this study aimed to evaluate how parents feel about circumcision and the probable determining variables. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study based on an online questionnaire available from March to April 2022...

BACKGROUND: Parents are anxious and apprehensive about the health of their children. A standardised, reproducible and meticulous parental counselling is helpful to both the parents and the treating doctors, as well as markedly reduces instances of scrimmage and medico-legal litigations. The aim of this study is to assess the psychosocial and medico-legal outcomes of parental counselling-in-continuum (PCiC) in paediatric surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted at two government-run Tertiary Healthcare Centres in North India...

BACKGROUND: The Ponseti technique remains the preferred method for club foot treatment. Although measures of treatment outcomes have been well documented, there is no consensus on the determinants of those outcomes. This study aims to assess treatment outcomes and the factors which can influence treatment outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 472 children representing 748 feet in total were recruited. Patient characteristics such as age at presentation, gender, tenotomy, walking with or without deformity, parental educational status and occupation were documented...

BACKGROUND: Transcutaneous hitching sutures in paediatric minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a unique and rare technique. This technique has been used previously in adult patients undergoing gastric resections and laparoscopic cholecystectomy; however, its use in paediatric population has never been reported in the world literature. The primary objective of this study was to bring out the advantages and feasibility of this technique in minimally invasive gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, urological and thoracoscopic surgeries on paediatric patients...

Gastrointestinal (GI) haemangiomatosis is a very rare cause of GI bleeding in children. Due to this fact, making the diagnosis sometimes is delayed. In this case report, two different patients with multiple GI haemangiomatosis are presented. Of note is an 8 year old male with a previous history of a vascular malformation of the face presented with features of bowel obstruction (intussusception) and a history of recurrent blood in stool. At laparotomy, multiple haemangiomatosis were seen on the small bowel, right colon, liver, diaphragm and on the body of the gallbladder...

Penile agenesis is complete absence of the penis in an otherwise normal phenotypic and genotypic male at birth that results from failure of development of the genital tubercle. It is an extremely rare anomaly that may be associated with anomalies in other organ systems, the extent and severity of which may affect the prognosis. The management is challenging and may have far reaching implications for the individual and family. While gender reassignment with bilateral orchidectomy and feminising genitoplasty has been carried out for most patients, significant psychosexual and social issues related to the male identity may occur due to foetal or postnatal sex steroid imprinting...

Male congenital urethrocutaneous fistula is an extremely rare anomaly that is commonly associated with chordee or anorectal malformations. It is characterised by an abnormal urethral opening on the ventral aspect of the penis with well-formed distal urethra and meatus at the tip of the glans. The treatment is individualised according to the site of the fistula, associated anomalies and condition of the distal urethra. The principles of hypospadias surgery should be strictly followed.

Primary vaginal calculi are uncommon in children. Urethral duplication in females is seen to occur in association with complex congenital malformations. We report the case of perianal persistent urogenital sinus with a hypertrophied clitoris with phallic urethra, scrotum-like pouch, uterus didelphys with obstructed hemivagina, and giant colpolithiasis in 46XX female. A 16-year-old presented with pain abdomen and cyclic passage of blood clots per rectum. She had a tender lump in left iliac region, a phallus like protrusion and a ruggous sac below it...

Inguinal hernias are more common in preterm and neonates and incidence of incarceration are reported to be more in the first 6 months of life. Strangulation follows incarceration and various incarcerated and strangulated contents having been reported in the sac. The fistulation of the herniated content through the scrotal skin is quite rare with only a few reported cases. We present the case of entero-scrotal fistula in a neonate managed with staged repair along with a brief review of the literature. A 27-days-old, full-term male presented with faecal discharge from the right scrotum...

Iatrogenic bladder rupture in children during a retrograde cystourethrography is very uncommon. We present a case of iatrogenic intraperitoneal bladder rupture in a 9-month child during the retrograde cystourethrography performed by a radiologist. The child presented in a paediatric emergency after 6 h with an acute abdomen indicating urinary peritonitis. An urgent laparotomy was performed and the perforation was repaired in two layers. The follow-up was unremarkable. This report emphasises the importance of respecting the criteria of the proper retrograde cystourethrography imaging procedure...

The routine schedule of antenatal ultrasound scans has led to an increased frequency of detection of foetal ovarian cysts. Although most of them regress spontaneously, some may grow into large cysts and undergo torsion followed by auto-amputation. However, pre- and post-natal scans may fail to identify this event. We report a case of a prenatally diagnosed ovarian cyst that failed to resolve conservatively and was increasing in size in post-natal ultrasounds. Pre-operative ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging failed to detect the auto-amputation...

BACKGROUND: Reduction and stabilisation of fractures at the earliest is valuable in the paediatric age groups. This novel technique focuses on stabilisation of the fracture fragments using vicryl, which has an added advantage to conventional plating and wiring. This study aimed on a novel cost-effective technique of stabilising the paediatric mandibular fracture using 2-0 resorbable polyglactin 910 suture with minimal trauma to tooth buds and bone and adequate stability. TECHNIQUE: After raising a full-thickness mucoperiosteal flap, the fracture segments are identified and reduced...

Stomal prolapse is one of the most common complications of enterostoma. Stoma if persistent and significant often requires revision of stoma. The techniques described often require laparotomy with resection or internal fixation of the bowel. Such procedures may make further laparotomy more difficult. We herein describe the use of a relatively simple procedure for the correction of stomal prolapse.

BACKGROUND: Childhood fractures are frequent. The aim of this study was to evaluate their epidemiological and clinical peculiarities in our context. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study that focused on the files of children with a fracture. They were aged 0-15 years and received between January 2011 and December 2015 at the Emergency Department of the National Teaching Hospital of Cotonou. RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty fractures were recorded in 257 children...

BACKGROUND: The two most commonly performed methods of biliary-enteric reconstruction following choledochal cyst resection are Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy (HJ) and hepaticoduodenostomy (HD). There is a lack of consensus regarding the better technique between them. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes, efficacy and early complications of HD as a mode of biliary reconstruction after surgical resection of a choledochal cyst. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multi-institutional prospective study carried out in high-volume tertiary care teaching institutes from January 2010 to December 2022...

BACKGROUND: The authors report their experience of the transanal endorectal pull through technique as described by De la Torre Mondragon in the treatment of Hirschsprung's disease (HD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a retro prospective, observational and descriptive hospital based study involving all proven cases of HD managed within a time frame of 8 years. RESULTS: Fifty two patients with a mean age of 18 months at the time of surgery. The male pre dominance was remarkable...

BACKGROUND: Rectal prolapse is a relatively common, usually self-limiting illness in children. Peak incidence is between 1 and 3 years. The primary treatment of rectal prolapse is non-operative. Surgical intervention is needed in long-standing intractable cases of rectal prolapse, rectal pain/bleeding/ulceration and prolapse that needs frequent manual or difficult reduction. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and outcome of laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy versus laparoscopic suture rectopexy in the management of persistent rectal prolapse in children not responding to conservative management and/or recurrent after sclerotherapy or anal encirclement...

BACKGROUND: Cleft lip and palate, which affects 0.5-1.6 out of every 1000 live births, is the most prevalent congenital defect of the head and neck. Several approaches, including quadrangular flaps, triangular flaps and rotation-advancement procedures, White Roll Vermilion Turn Down Flap (WRV flap) from the lateral lip element were employed by Mishra to modify Millard's technique to create the vermilion and white roll on the medial lip segment. This study aimed to use the anthropometric measurements taken pre- and post-operation to evaluate quantitative assessment of modified Millard technique compared with WRV flap technique in unilateral cleft lip (UCL) repair...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to use anthropometric measurements taken pre- and post-operation to evaluate quantitative assessment of modified Millard technique compared with Tennison-Randall technique in unilateral cleft lip (UCL) repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective randomised controlled study recruited infants scheduled for UCL repair. Infants aged 2-6 months, either complete or incomplete deformity. A total of 68 patients were randomised in 1:1 ratio to undergo either modified Millard technique (Group I) or Tennison-Randall technique (Group II)...