Clinical Analysis of Urachal Anomalies.
- Author:
Min Su PARK
1
;
Sang Mok LEE
;
Sung Wha HONG
Author Information
1. Department of Surgery, Kyunghee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. swhong@khmc.or.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Urachal anomaly;
Urachal sinus;
Urachal cyst;
Patent urachus
- MeSH:
Abdominal Pain;
Aged;
Diagnostic Errors;
Fever;
Humans;
Male;
Physical Examination;
Retrospective Studies;
Urachal Cyst;
Urachus;
Urination
- From:Journal of the Korean Surgical Society
2006;70(3):214-217
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: Although relatively rare, urachal remnants manifest as a large number of diverse disorders, which can lead to a high misdiagnosis rate. Because of the many clini-cal pre-sentations, there are no uniform guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of urachal remnants. We report our experi-ence with urachal anomalies in an attempt to establish an optimal diagnostic and treatment modality. METHODS: Fifteen patients (6 males and 9 females), who had undergone surgery for urachal anomalies from December 1988 to July 2004, were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The patients' age ranged from 1 day to 71 years old. The 3 variants of urachal anomalies included a patent urachus in 1 patients (7%), urachal sinus in 5 (33%), and an urachal cyst in 9 (60%). The presenting complaint was a low abdominal mass in 6 patients, abdominal pain in 5, periumbilical discharge in 3, fever in 3, and periumbilical urination in 2. Four combined anomalies were observed in 4 patients. The diagnostic evaluation included fistulography in 3 cases, sonography in 12, and CT in 3. Excision was performed in 12 patients. CONCLUSION: Urachal anomalies most often present in infancy, and can be diagnosed and treated with certainty if a good physical examination and proper imaging studies are performed. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice for urachal anomalies.
