Evaluation of spontaneous reduction among the invagination cases admitted to the paediatric emergency department; retrospective study

Aims We aimed to determine the factors that determine the conditions in cases of invagination with spontaneous reduction. Methods Study was conducted retrospectively in the Paediatric Emergency Department (PED) of the tertiary University Hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Invagination cases admitted between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 were included in the study. Patient information (demographic data such as age, gender, physical examination findings, laboratory and imaging methods, treatment and follow-up) were recorded on the data form prepared by the researchers before the study, using patient files and hospital patient information system. Data were analysed with IBM SPSS V23. Results During the study period, the number of cases who applied to the PED was 33,849 and 74 of these cases were diagnosed with invagination. In the cases diagnosed with invagination, 69 (93%) of them spontaneously reduced during the follow-up. Among all cases, the male sex ratio was 56.5% (39/69). The average age was 44.6 months (minimum: 6; maximum: 154). The mean follow-up time in the emergency room was 12 hours and in the hospital service was 38 hours. Vomiting was observed in 89.9% (58/69) of all cases, abdominal pain in 68.1% (44/69) and rectal bleeding in 1.4% (1/69).The invagination of 21.7% (15/69) of the patients at the first USG was ileo-ileal. 63.8% (44/69) of the patients were discharged after followed up in emergency observation. The number of USGs was lower in the group that was discharged after the follow-up in the emergency room, than the follow-up groups in the service monitoring (P = .012). Conclusion Invagination is one of the surgical emergencies. With the widespread use of USG, most of these cases are followed up by clinical and USG follow-up in paediatric emergency services. Spontaneous reduction frequently develops in cases of intussusception with small bowel localisation and short bowel segment (less than 3 cm).