ABSTRACT
Duplications of the alimentary tract are rare spherical or tubular structures which can occur anywhere in the tract from mouth to anus.1-3 Ladd, in 1937, introduced the term ‘alimentary tract duplication’ in the hope of clarifying the nomenclature which had previously included descriptive terms such as enteric or enterogenous cysts; giant diverticula; ileal, jejunal or colonic duplex, an unusual Meckel’s diverticulum.4 Ladd proposed that the unifying term ‘alimentary tract duplications’ be applied to congenital anomalies that involved the mesenteric side of the associated alimentary tract and shared a common blood supply with native bowel.4 Most duplications might indeed be called simply ‘enterogenous cysts’, since in only very few cases there is an actual doubling of the alimentary tract and these are therefore deserving of the name ‘duplication’.
