Eight Years Experience with The Management and Outcome of Congenital Gastrointestinal Anomaly in A Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

The treatment of congenital gastrointestinal anomaly is associated with high morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries. This study reports 8-year experience with the, pattern of presentation and factors influencing outcome of management in a Nigerian tertiary hospital. This is a retrospective study on children diagnosed with congenital gastrointestinal anomaly at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria, between January 2000 and December 2007. A total of 258 operations were done on 189 children with congenital gastrointestinal anomaly. They comprised of 128 males and 61 females with male/female ratio 2.1:1 and mean age 4.9 ± 3.8 months (range 12 hours to 12 years). Anorectal anomaly 75 (39.7%) and Hirschsprung's disease 57 (30.2%) were the commonest indications for treatment. Eight-one (42.9%) children were operated as neonates with a resultant 29.6% mortality compared with 15.7% mortality recorded among 108 operated after neonatal period (P= 0.0345). Twenty-eight (14.8%) children had multiple anomaly with 5 (83.3%) deaths recorded among six with associated cardiac anomaly (P Keywords: , Congenital, gastrointestinal, anomaly, treatment outcome