Management of intussusception

Intussusception represents the most common abdominal emergency in infancy. The classical clinical triad, consisting of abdominal colics, red jelly stools and a palpable mass, is only present in approximately 50% of cases, 20% of patients are symptom free at clinical presentation. Primary imaging modality of choice is ultrasound scanning, which enables the diagnosis or exclusion of an intussusception at a sensitivity of 98-100%, specificity of 88% and a negative predictive value of 100%. In emergency cases, additional plain films are necessary to detect potential intestinal perforation, to identify intestinal obstruction or other diseases mimicking the clinical presentation. Once the diagnosis of an intussusception is established, non-surgical reduction (NSR) is used. A surgical approach is chosen in patients with signs of perforation, shock or peritonitis. Depending on the choice of guiding imaging technique, different contrast media are used for NSR. Barium suspension or air with fluoroscopic guidance, or saline only or mixed with water-soluble contrast under sonographic guidance, has to be used. Regardless of the used contrast medium, NSR is an effective technique, being successfully employed in more than 90% of cases.