ABSTRACT
Meal prolapse through the umbilicus is a severe complication of patent omphalomesenteric duct which exposes to the risk of intestinal necrosis in case of diagnostic or therapeutic delay. This is a retrospective study of six cases of ileal prolapse complicating a patent omphalomesenteric duct observed between 1986 and 2004 in the pediatric surgery department of Monastir. The mean age of the six patients was 67 days. The diagnosis was performed on the observation of an out-f low of intestinal liquid or stools through the umbilicus associated to an ileal prolapse. Five patients were treated by intestinal resection and anastomosis and the sixth had a wedge-shaped resection of the omphalomesenteric duct. One patient died from a severe sepsis. The evolution was favourable for the other patients. The ileal prolapse complicates 50 to 80 per cent of the umbilical enteric fistula. It exposes to the risk of occlusion and intestinal necrosis. So, the treatment must be urgent and consists on the resection of omphalomesenteric duct with ileal anastomosis.This treatment can be done by classic surgery or, more recently, by coelioscopy. The mortality can reach 33 per cent in the event of diagnostic or therapeutic delay. The ileal prolapse is a rare form of the patent omphalomesenteric duct which must be diagnosed and treated quickly to ovoid complications