Functional Outcome in Children with Hirschsprung’s Disease after Modified Duhamel’s Procedure: A Longitudinal Study

Introduction: The classical surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s Disease (HD) is by resection of the aganglionic segment of the distal intestine and bringing down the ganglionic segment by Modified Duhamel’s procedure or other pull-through operations. The assessment of the postoperative functional outcome and continence scoring systems are important considerations during follow-up of these children. In the present study, a scoring system was used to analyse the postoperative functional outcome of HD as there are very few studies, that have objectively assessed the same. Aim: To assess the functional outcome in children under six years of age, who underwent Modified Duhamel’s procedure for HD. Materials and Methods: This descriptive longitudinal, study was conducted in the Tertiary Teaching Institution at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The duration of the study was one year and nine months, from February 2017 to November 2018. Forty cases of biopsy proven HD, who underwent Modified Duhamel’s procedure were analysed. Postoperative follow-up was done at one, two, and three years after the definitive surgical procedure. Patients were classified as good, fair and poor outcome groups depending based on the Taylor-Duthies-Zachary continence scoring system. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Pretest comparison of scores and p-value were analysed by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A p-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 12.7±4.1 months and age ranges from three to 25 months. Median stool frequency per day after one, two, and three years of surgery, was 6.0, 4.0, and 3.0, respectively. The observed difference in median frequency between one and two year, one and three, and two year and three year was statistically significant (p<0.05). Median continence score to assess the anal sphincter control at one, two and three years after surgery were 2.3, 4.0 and 4.5, respectively. The observed difference in scores over successive years, was statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: The functional outcome in patients, who underwent Duhamel’s procedure was good and the postoperative issues like increased stool frequency, and sphincter control improved over successive years.