The impact of intraoperative culture on treatment and outcome in children with perforated appendicitis.

Background: Most protocols for the operative treatment of perforated appendicitis use a routine culture. Although isolated studies suggest that routine culture may not be necessary, these recommendations generally are not based on objective outcome data.

Methods: The authors reviewed the records of 308 children who underwent operative treatment for perforated appendicitis between 1988 and 1998 to determine if information gained from routine culture changes the management or improves outcome.

Perforated appendicitis in children: risk factors for the development of complications.

Background: Many aspects of the management of perforated appendicitis in children remain controversial. The objective of this study was to define risk factors associated with the development of postoperative complications in children undergoing treatment for perforated appendicitis.

Methods: We reviewed all children (age < 16 years) who were treated for perforated appendicitis at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital between 1988 and 1997.

Critical analysis of the operative treatment of Hirschsprung's disease.

Objective: To critically analyze complications and long-term results of the operative treatment of Hirschsprung's disease.

Design: Medical records of patients with Hirschsprung's disease were reviewed retrospectively. Follow-up was obtained using a standardized telephone questionnaire.

Torsion of a hepatic lobe in the neonate--ultrasound findings.

We report a case of projectile vomiting in an infant, secondary to torsion of an accessory lobe of the liver, imaged by ultrasound.