Meckel’s diverticulum, descriptive series

Abstract

Introduction: Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is a congenital intestinal malformation located in the distal ileum, 60 cm from the ileocecal valve. The prevalence ranges between 2% and 4% of the general population, and it can be asymptomatic in 95.2% of patients. The diagnosis is commonly made incidentally in abdominal explorations for other causes, while symptomatic patients manifest as gastrointestinal tract bleeding in 30%–56% of these. Materials and methods: We conducted an observational, descriptive, retrospective study of patients diagnosed with Meckel's diverticulum in a pediatric hospital from January 2013 to December 2022. Results: A study series of 18 cases was obtained; 88.88% corresponded to male sex; the mean age was 6.06 years (SD ±3.73 years) (95%CI 5.62–6.49). The symptoms reported were abdominal pain in 94.44%, nausea and emesis in 83.33%, fever in 44.44%, and digestive bleeding in 38.88%. As for the paraclinics, 11.11% presented hemoglobin in a range of less than 5md/dl, 4.44% in the range of 5–10 mg/dl, and 44.44% in the range of greater than 10 mg/dl. 61.11% were transfused, this study did not report mortality. Conclusion: This study revealed differences with respect to the age of the frequency of diagnosis of this pathology, since the range found was from 8 months to 15 years. Furthermore, we recommend considering the diagnosis of DM in cases of abdominal pain, bloody stools, and emesis in this age group.