KARACHI, May 29: Paediatric surgeons at a workshop on Saturday observed that hirschsprung's disease was a congenital disorder in which babies had severe constipation since birth and , if remained undiagnosed, it could cause many other complications.

These views were expressed on the first day of first national workshop on hirschsprung's disease organized by the Department of Paediatric Surgery, National Institute of Child Health, at NICH auditorium. Senior professors and eminent paediatric surgeons from major cities besides trainees participated in the workshop. Dr Vivek Gharpure from India also attended the workshop.

On the occasion, the Department of Paediatric Surgery had arranged an audio-visual live show of surgeries being conducted at NICH's operation theatre with interactive discussions between audience at the auditorium and the surgeons operating.

Dr Arif Mateen and Dr Zafar Nazeer did Rectal Biopsies, Prof M. Shoukat performed Martin's Procedure, Prof Naeem Khan carried out Swenson's Procedure and Dr Iftikhar Jan did Transanal Endorectal Pull-through.

They said that the children suffering from the hirschsprung's disease might not grow and gain weight according to age while in some cases the disease could even lead to death.

After scientific sessions, Paediatric Surgery Department's head Dr Iftikhar A. Jan, said that it was a unique event in the country aimed at sharing experience and training of paediatric surgeons in practice besides postgraduate trainees.

He said that the basic purpose of organizing the workshop was to introduce national standards of treatment of the disease, which was common in Pakistan and many other countries.

"In Pakistan, people are not aware about hirschsprung's disease and hence its treatment is difficult that must only be done by paediatric surgeons in specialized centre," he added.

"Diagnosis can be made at any age depending on severity of the disease and if properly treated life of many patients can be saved," he said.

Talking about its symptoms, Dr Siraj Soomro from Chandka Medical College of Larkana said that normal baby used to meconium within the first 48 hours of birth and if it did not happen parents should think seriously about constipation - a major cause of hirschsprung's disease. In such cases, he advised parents to immediately consult paediatric surgeon, paediatrician or physician.

About prevalence of the disease, he said that one out of every 5,000 people in Pakistan were suffering from hirschsprung's disease. Among these patients, around 80 per cent were male and 20 per cent were female, he added. -PPI