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Jejunoileal Atresia and Stenosis

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Abstract

Jejunoileal atresia, defined as a congenital defect in continuity of the bowel, is a common cause of intestinal obstruction in the newborn. The incidence of jejunoileal atresia varies from 1 in 330 and 1 in 400 live births to between 1 in 1500 and 1 in 3000 live births. Jejunoileal occlusions occur more frequently than duodenal or colonic. The management of jejunoileal atresia has been one of the great success stories of pediatric surgery of the twentieth century. An initial more than 90% mortality up to 1950 was turned to a >80% survival with a simple change in surgical technique prompted by innovative surgical experiments on fetal puppies performed by Barnard and Louw – the first steps in fetal surgery. With improved neonatal and perioperative care, safe anesthesia, refined surgical techniques, and better management of short bowel syndrome, a survival rate of greater than 95% can be expected in well-resourced centers. This chapter describes the current approach to the diagnosis and management of jejunoileal atresia of the newborn.

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Correspondence to Alastair J. W. Millar .

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Millar, A.J.W., Numanoglu, A., Cox, S. (2017). Jejunoileal Atresia and Stenosis. In: Puri, P. (eds) Pediatric Surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38482-0_66-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38482-0_66-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-38482-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-38482-0

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