Childhood intussusception: hydrostatic reducibility and incidence of leading points in different age groups.

A series consisting of 658 radiologically diagnosed intussusceptions is analysed. Hydrostatic reduction was successful in 85.2% of cases, the incidence of failure amounting to 14.8%. Analysis demonstrated a marked difference in reduction rate in different age groups. The lowest rate of success was recorded in children over 5 years of age, the group with the highest incidence of leading points. The next lowest rate of success was in those below age 1 year where the frequency of failure was more than 50% higher than in the ages between 1 and 5 years. However, the rate of leading points was approximately the same in both the latter groups and close to the average in entire series. There is no reason to refrain from barium enema reduction in any age group although special care should be exercised in the neonate. With a reasonable experience of method, the risk of overlooking a surgically significant lesion is negligible.