Intussusception in Nigerian adults.

Eleven Nigerian adult patients with intussusception were seen at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria, between 1973 and 1985. The average age of the patients was 43.2 years ± 13.5 SD. The most common types of intussusception encountered were the ileoileal and cecocolic. The cause of the intussusception was idiopathic in four patients (36.3 percent) and malignant in only one patient (9 percent). Malignancy as a cause of intussusception in Nigerian adults is rare, but resection without reduction still appears to be the safest surgical approach because most patients came late to surgery.