Hirschsprung's Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment

This new book on Hirschsprung's disease (HD) contains a complete update on the various aspects of this disease. It is the collaboration of an international group of pædiatric surgeons well-known in their fields who are experts in this pathology and of other prestigious professionals – neurobiologists, physiologists, geneticists, pædiatricians, and histopathologists. Over the course of 28 chapters, these authors describe the latest advances in the diagnosis and treatment of this pathology. The first part is an update of the anorectal physiology, pathophysiology, genetics, and histopathology. The second part deals with the clinical manifestations and diagnosis in the newborn, with especial reference to manometric diagnosis during the neonatal period and to the morphological and radiological study. Other important chapters are devoted to differential diagnosis, preoperative care, indications for ostomy, and preparing the child for the pull-through. The third part describes the various classical surgical options (Swenson, Duhamel, Soave, Rehbein), and the new methods using laparoscopy and transanal pull-through, which have been the major breakthrough in the treatment of this condition. Total colonic aganglionosis and the critical review of the different surgical techniques occupy two magisterial chapters. The fourth part comprises an extensive exposition of enterocolitis in HD, the long-term results following surgery, other variants of HD, and two novel chapters in treatises on this disease (intestinal transplants and nutrition). In the Annex, parents of children with this disease describe their experience. The book ends with a final chapter devoted to informed consent. This book will be an invaluable reference for pædiatric surgeons and pædiatricians and gastroenterologists, and has a special interest for parents of children with Hirschsprung's disease.