Operative Findings (Hirschsprung´s Disease)

Operative findings in a 3-month-old infant with constipation. Parts of the left colon and sigma emerge from the left laparotomy in the lower abdomen. The visible part of the colon descendens is enormously dilated. There are the typical findings of classic Hirschsprung's disease: The transverse and narrow part of the sigma is aganglionic and therefore, the site of the disease. The dilated part of the colon is normally innervated and dilated secondarily on account of the functional obstruction of the rectosigmoid. The dilated part has given the disease one of its names, namely, megacolon. Between the two parts there is the diagnostically significant transition zone.