[Manifestations of paralytic ileus in infants hospitalized for acute diarrheal syndrome].

In order to assess and characterize adynamic ileus (AI) complicating acute diarrhoea (AD) in infants, 802 consecutive admissions were studied. Diagnosis was suspected in 23 patients with abdominal distension and confirmed by radiological study in 16 whose age range was 14 ds to 6 mo. Of these late patients, 9/16 were malnourished. Age was less than, but nutritional status similar to that of all patients admitted with ADD. Vomiting (14/16), silent or almost silent abdomen (10/16), protracted course of diarrhoea (9/16) and increased gastric content (6/16) were the most common clinical findings in addition to abdominal distension and X Ray films suggestive of AI (inclusion criteria). Lack of constipation was a relevant finding. Treatment included temporal discontinuance of oral feedings, intravenous fluids administration, nasogastric and rectal tube and antibiotics. Lethality rate was 4/16. Duration of AI was an average of 2 days in survivors and 4 days in the remainder infants. It is concluded that AI is an infrequent complication of AD (0.19% of cases), which should be suspected in infants less that 6 mo old with diarrhoea and abdominal distension.