3D Printed Hirschsprung’s Disease

3D Printed Hirschsprung’s Disease Clinical History A 5-year old male presents with a history of constipation since birth. A barium enema showed a constricted rectum with a dilated sigmoid colon. Surgical resection of constricted section of bowl was attempted but the patient died during the surgery. Pathology This postmortem section of sigmoid colon has been opened to display the internal surface shown here. There is large dilation of the proximal section of bowel (sigmoid ) with loss of the normal mucosal pattern. The distal section of bowel (rectum) has a normal diameter and a normal mucosal pattern but an absence of ganglion cells in the myenteric plexus. This is an example of Hirschsprung‘s disease, also known as congenital aganglionic megacolon. Further InformationHirschsprung‘s disease is characterised by lack of coordinated peristaltic contraction in a segment of bowel, due to a lack of parasympathetic ganglia. It mainly affects the rectum but the