Surgical management of duodenal obstruction in older children in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Twenty children, aged between six years and fourteen years were seen and treated for duodenal obstruction at the Department of Surgery, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria, between 1st January 1990 and 31st December, 1990. Both extrinsic and intrinsic factors caused the duodenal obstruction. All the patients were surgically treated and all survived. The main presenting clinical features, diagnosis and treatment are discussed. Follow up on some of the patients has been erratic because of patients defaulting on clinic appointments. In spite of successful surgical treatment and relief of symptoms, growth retardation, as shown by height and weight measurements, persisted relatively in patients in whom it was present at the time of diagnosis and treatment.