A case of ultrashort-segment Hirschsprung’s disease discovered after taking polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution for chronic constipation

Abstract

Abstract We report a case of ultrashort-segment Hirschsprung’s disease (HD) involving a 4-year-old girl. She was born at 29 weeks gestation from a twin pregnancy. She weighed 1013 g. After birth, she received glycerin enemas and sodium picosulfate hydrate to facilitate defecation. She passed stool once every 4–5 days. When she was 4 years old, she was medicated with polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution. After she drank the solution twice, the abdomen distended rapidly without passage of stool. An abdominal X-ray showed a stored stool mass and a barium enema study revealed dilatation from the rectum to the sigmoid colon due to the stool mass. She underwent anorectal manometry and a rectal biopsy, and was suspected to have HD. She underwent a Soave endorectal pull-through with an oblique anastomosis. She passed stool 4–10 times a day for 6 months postoperatively, but the frequency of passing stool gradually deceased without medications.