The relationship between disturbed transit and dilated bowel, and manometric findings of dilated bowel in patients with duodenal atresia and stenosis.

To determine whether dilated bowel proximal to obstruction associated with duodenal atresia and stenosis is related to feeding problems after a surgical correction of obstruction, the authors reviewed retrospectively the degree of bowel dilatation and disturbed transit as well as other clinical features in 18 duodenal atresia and 12 duodenal stenosis patients. A multivariate analysis was conducted to determine the possible correlation among them. The authors also evaluated the physiological function of the dilated bowel in duodenal atresia and stenosis patients (n = 8) by manometry of dilated bowel. The results were as follows. (1) In multivariate analysis, using the degree of disturbed transit as a dependent variable and using other clinical features as independent variables, the presence of postoperative complication and the existence of bowel dilatation 2 weeks after the operation were risk factors for disturbed transit. (2) One or two episodes of phase 3 were found in six of eight measured patients during the recorded period. The most distinctive manometric finding was the low contraction amplitude of both phase 2 and phase 3. These results indicate that dilated bowel was related to disturbed transit during the postoperative period, and that the low contraction amplitude of the dilated bowel was the main pathophysiological feature. The tapering or plication of dilated bowel might be indicated in patients with a markedly dilated bowel.