J Korean Assoc Pediatr Surg.  2014 Dec;20(2):33-37. 10.13029/jkaps.2014.20.2.33.

How Reliable Are Diagnostic Methods of Hirschsprung Disease?

• Kim H
• Kim DY
• Kim SC
• Namgoong J
• Hwang JH

• KMID: 1961483
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13029/jkaps.2014.20.2.33

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the non-invasive diagnostic methods and rectal suction biopsy for the detection of Hirschsprung disease (HD).
METHODS
We reviewed diagnostic methods and results retrospectively in patients who underwent anorectal manometry, barium enema and rectal suction biopsy for the diagnosis of HD at Asan Medical Center from January 2000 to December 2012.
RESULTS
There were 97 patients (59 neonates and 38 infants) in the study period. The overall accuracy of anorectal manometry for the diagnosis of HD was 71.1% and its sensitivity was 51.4% (48.1% in neonate and 62.5% in infant, respectively) and its overall specificity was 82.3% (81.3% in neonate and 83.3% in infant, respectively). The Overall accuracy of barium enema was 66.0% (72.8% in neonate and 55.3% in infant, respectively) and specificity of barium enema was 53.2% (56.3% in neonate and 50.0% in infant, respectively). These results were lower than those of anorectal manometry. The overall sensitivity of barium enema was 88.6% (92.6% in neonate and 75.0% in infant, respectively) and it was higher than the sensitivity of anorectal manometry. Histological studies confirmed HD in 35 patients, in one of whom the suction biopsy showed negative finding.
CONCLUSION
Accuracy of non-invasive methods for diagnosis of HD in our study is lower than those in previous study, so we need to improve the quality of diagnostic tools in our hospital. We conclude that the rectal suction biopsy is the most accurate test for diagnosing HD, so the biopsy to confirm the diagnosis of the HD is very important.

Keyword

Hirschsprung disease; Anorectal manometry; Barium enema; Rectal suction biopsy; Accuracy

MeSH Terms

Barium
Biopsy
Chungcheongnam-do
Diagnosis
Enema
Hirschsprung Disease*
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Manometry
Retrospective Studies
Sensitivity and Specificity
Suction
Barium

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