Adult Hirschsprung's disease: results of the Duhamel procedure.

Hirschsprung's disease is a rare condition in the adult. The case reports of 39 patients managed by the Duhamel procedure were reviewed. One-third of the patients underwent at least one abdominal surgical procedure before the correct diagnosis was made. The operative mortality of the Duhamel procedure was zero. In 29 patients no defunctioning procedure was used to protect the anastomosis. The incidence of anastomotic dehiscence was 13 per cent. Thirty-six of the thirty-nine patients have excellent functional results.