ABSTRACT
Congenital segmental dilatation of the intestine is a rare lesion that is complicated by obstruction of the intestines or chronic constipation from birth. Since Swenson and Rathauser first described three patients with segmental dilatation of the colon in 1959,1 59 cases (30 newborns, 25 children and four adults) with this condition (41 in the small intestine and 18 in the colon) had been collected from previously reported world literature in 1996.2 In addition, seven neonatal cases (eight in the small intestine and one in the colon) had been collected afterwards.3-10 In 39 neonates, 19 were confirmed to be males and 17 females, and their ages ranged from 4 hours to 20 days. Of them, two with segmental dilatation of the jejunum or the ileum were discovered by antenatal ultrasonography at 29 or 30 weeks’ gestation, respectively.8,10 The dilated segment was the small intestine in 32 cases (one duodenum, seven jejunum, 12 ileum and 12 undetected small intestine) and the colon in seven cases (Box 57.1).
