Management Of Intestinal Atresia At The Aristide Le Dantec Hospital In Dakar, Senegal: A Preliminary Study

Goals: Report diagnostic, therapeutic aspects and outcome of intestinal atresia in our context of developing countries. Patients and methods: This is a retrospective descriptive study from January 2009 to December 2012. We compiled 10 cases of intestinal atresia with an average age of 4.2 days and a sex ratio of 0.67. We used clinical and paraclinical, treatment and outcome. Results: The clinical picture was that of a bowel obstruction flat stomach in eight cases and bloated stomach in two cases. Three patients had associated malformations. Radiography of the abdomen was performed in all patients showing air-fluid pictures in seven patients and a double bubble appearance in three patients. Surgical exploration found duodenal atresia, jejuno ileal atresia, and colonic atresia. Patients who had jejunoileal atresia were treated by resection followed by end-toend anastomosis in one case and resection stoma in six other cases. The patient who had a bowel atresia received a lateral terminal colostomy. The resumption of diet was started in average on the third postoperative day. Postoperative morbidity consisted ​ mainly of electrolyte disturbances in seven cases and parietal abscesses in four cases. Conclusion: The mortality of intestinal atresia remains high in our context despite surgical treatment. The improved prognosis must pass through the establishment of neonatal intensive care unit, the availability of total parenteral nutrition and strengthening the technical platform.