Acute intussusception in childhood.

Intussusception has been recognised for over 2,000 years. Both the operative and the hydrostatic methods of reduction used today are said to have been suggested at that time by the Greeks of Cos. The first successful operative reduction was performed in this country by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson in i87I. Gross and Ware, of Boston, reported in I948 a mortality of below 3 per cent., compared with one of 59 per cent. some 30 years ago, and some recent series, especially from large centres (Jones, Hindmarsh, Court and Jackson, I953; Forshall and Rickham, I953), had a mortality as low as i per cent. On the other hand, other recent series, especially those including the war years, show a mortality of I0 to 20 per cent. Improvements in diagnosis and treatment continue, but there is still no general agreement as to the place of hydrostatic methods of reduction, nor of the best way to deal with the irreducible or gangrenous intussusception. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the clinical aspects of acute intussusception in childhood, and the treatment in particular of the irreducible intussusception.