Purpose: Transanal one-stage Soave (TOS) procedure is the most recently reported procedure for Hirschsprung’s disease. This study was performed to compare the surgical outcomes of TOS with those of modified Duhamel procedure. Methods: The study populations were 17 consecutive patients who underwent TOS procedure between March, 2003 and February, 2008 (TOS group) and 19 consecutive patients who ...

The lethal spotted (ls) mouse has been used as a model for the human disorder Hirschsprung's disease, because as in the latter condition, ls/ls homozygotes are born without ganglion cells in their terminal colons and, without surgical intervention, die early as a consequence of intestinal obstruction. Previous studies have led to the conclusion that hereditary aganglionosis in ls/ls mice occurs...

Figure 1. Neuronal-glia ineractions during intestinal inflammation and neural stem cell transfer. ATP, adenosine triphosphate; NO, nitric oxide; P2X7R, purinergic receptor P2X, ligand gated ion channel, 7. Cneurons in the human body. For more than a century, physicians and scientists have argued that glia provide the fundamental infrastructure and life support to neurons, without which the brai...

The mechanosensitive endings of low-threshold, slowly adapting pelvic afferents that innervate the rectum have been previously identified as rectal intraganglionic laminar endings (rIGLEs) that lie within myenteric ganglia. We tested whether the aganglionic rectum of piebald-lethal (s(l)/s(l)) mice lacks rIGLEs and whether this could explain impaired distension-evoked reflexes from this region....

Aerophagia is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by repetitive air swallowing, abdominal distension, belching and flatulence. Pathologic aerophagia is a condition caused by the swallowing of excessive volumes of air with associated various gastrointestinal symptoms, such as burping, abdominal cramps, flatulence and a reduced appetite. It is a clinical entity that can simulate ...

BACKGROUND Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is a congenital disorder characterised by the absence of ganglion cells in the large bowel, leading to functional obstruction and colonic dilatation proximal to the affected segment. A subclass of nerve cell bodies in both submucosa and myenteric ganglia of the human gastrointestinal tract were found to show immunopositivity for calretinin, a calcium bindi...

Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a congenital disorder characterized by an absence of enteric ganglion cells in the terminal regions of the gut during development. To date, the cause of HSCR remains unclear, although the pathogenesis of this complex disease is hypothesized to be influenced by numerous genetic and environmental factors. Dishevelled‑2 (DVL‑2) is a subtype of the dishevelled prote...

OBJECTIVE To describe the case of an infant with Hirschsprung's disease presenting as total colonic aganglionosis, which, after surgical resection of the aganglionic segment persisted with irreversible functional intestinal obstruction; discuss the difficulties in managing this form of congenital aganglionosis and discuss a plausible pathogenetic mechanism for this case. CASE DESCRIPTION The ...