The management of pyloric stenosis in a district hospital.

Over a 10-year period, 80 infants were admitted with a diagnosis of pyloric stenosis. Seventy-nine underwent surgical pyloromyotomy (63 male, 16 female; mean age 5.6 weeks). Fifty-nine infants (75%) were operated upon by one of four consultant surgeons and 20 (25%) operations were undertaken by a registrar. Seventy operations (89%) were performed during normal working hours and thirty of these (43%) were placed first on the operating list. The mean length of stay was 6.9 days. Three infants required re-operation: there were two instances of wound dehiscence and one episode of bleeding from the edge of the pyloromyotomy. There were no deaths. The morbidity and mortality in this series was comparable with published results from specialist units.