Gastrointestinal duplications in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Background: Gastrointestinal duplications are rare congenital malformations that commonly present within the first year of life. When they present in older age groups, diagnosis is often difficult. This difficulty derives from the lack of specific clinical features attributable to these lesions. Objectives: To document the challenges posed to surgeons by gastrointestinal duplications in different parts of the world and to report our experience in its management in Ile-lfe, Nigeria. Design: A retrospective study. It involved a study of the clinical records of all patients diagnosed to have gastrointestinal duplication in our hospital. Setting: A Paediatric and General Surgical unit, University of Ile-Ife Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Results: Five patients were diagnosed to have gastrointestinal duplications over the period of the study. The age, ranged from 28 days to 52 years. There were four males and one female. One patient presented within the first month of life. The others presented after the age of one year. There were two gastric, two ileal and one rectal duplication. All had the cystic variety of duplication. Three of the patients had excision, one had mucosal stripping and one had internal drainage of the duplication. The outcome was satisfactory in all of them. Conclusion: Duplications tend to present at a much older-age group in our environment. Early diagnosis therefore depends on a high index of suspicion and every surgeon operating in the abdomen must be familiar with the management of this condition. (East African Medical Journal: 2002 79(3): 134-136