Barium enema is one of the diagnostic modalities for Hirschsprung'sdisease. The present study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of barium enema for Hirschsprung's disease, especially total colonic aganglionosis (TCA).
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all the patients who were diagnosed as having TCA and underwent a barium enema in Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital between January 1998 and December 2016. All the tests were performed and reviewed by pediatric radiologists.
Among the total 19 patients with TCA who underwent barium enema, 9 patients (47.4%) had accurate radiographic results. Eight of the 13 neonate patients (61.5%) showed typical TCA radiological findings. However, only one of the 6 patients aged >4 weeks (16.7%) had accurate radiological diagnosis.
Barium enema showed low accuracy for TCA, and its diagnostic performance was better in neonatal period than in those aged >4 weeks.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Diagnosing Hirschsprung's disease is a clinical challenge. Hirschsprung's disease should be considered in any child who has a history of constipation dating back to the newborn period. We examined diagnostic methods and their results retrospectively in 37 neonates and infants who underwent both barium enema and anorectal manometry for the diagnosis of Hirschsprungs disease at Asan Medical Center between January 1999 and April 2001. Two radiologists and a surgeon repeatedly reviewed both of the diagnostic results. In anorectal manometry, thirty-four studies were in agreement with the definitive diagnosis, giving an overall diagnostic accuracy of 91.9 % (neonate; 100 %, infant; 85.7 %). The accuracy and specificity of barium enema was lower than those of anorectal manometry, but sensitivity was higher. There was no significant difference between the two methods. Both studies showed findings consistent with the final diagnosis. However, discordant results needed further evaluation or close observation to diagnose accurately. We conclude that Hirschsprungs disease should not be diagnosed by only one diagnostic method.