Nutritional status in children has been considered an indicator of health and well-being at the individual and population levels (1). Both the malnutrition prevalence and the risk for development of malnutrition have been consistently reported as high in hospitalised children (2, 3). However, this problem remains largely unrecognised by healthcare workers. Due to the likelihood of the prevention of nutrition-associated complications, such as the slowing of growth and increased susceptibility to various infections, as well as prolonged hospitalisation, early detection of the risk for malnutrition among hospitalised children has been considered essential (3, 4).The importance of identifying those children at increased nutritional risk has led to the development of a number of nutritional risk screening (NRS) tools. However, there is a paucity of data on their application in clinical practice and the degree of inter-tool agreement and a consensus regarding which screening tool to use has not yet been reached (3,5). The most recent instrument, STRONGkids, has been developed accordBackground: High prevalence of malnutrition along with the risk for the development of malnutrition in hospitalised children has been reported. However, this problem remains largely unrecognised by healthcare workers. Aims: To determine the prevalence of malnutrition and effectiveness of STRONGkids nutritional risk screening (NRS) tool in the identification of malnutrition risk among pediatric surgical patients. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: A total of 494 pediatric surgical patients (median age 59 months, 75.8% males) were included in this prospective study conducted over 3 months. SD-scores <-2 for Body Mass Index (BMI) for age or weight-for-height (WFH) and height-for-age (HFA) were considered to indicate acute and chronic malnutrition, respectively. The STRONGkids NRS tool was used to determine risk for malnutrition. Results: Malnutrition was detected in 13.4% in this group of pediatric surgical patients. Acute malnutrition was identified in 10.1% of patients and more commonly in patients aged ≤60 months than aged >60 months (13.4 vs. 6.6%, p=0.012). Chronic malnutrition was identified in 23 (4.6%) of patients with no significant difference between age groups. There were 7 (1.4%) children with coexistent acute and chronic malnutrition. The STRONGkids tool revealed that 35.7% of patients were either in the moderate or high risk group for malnutrition. Malnutrition, as revealed by anthropometric measurements, was more likely in the presence of gastrointestinal (26.9%, p=0.004) and inguinoscrotal/penile surgery (4.0%, p=0.031), co-morbidities affecting nutritional status (p<0.001) and inpatient admissions (p=0.014). Among patients categorized as low risk for malnutrition, there were more outpatients than inpatients (89.3 vs. 10.7%, p<0.001) and more elective surgery cases than emergency surgery cases (93.4 vs. 6.6%, p<0.001). Conclusion: Providing data on the prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition in a prospect...

Background: Oesophageal colonic interposition in oesophageal atresia (OA) patients is almost exclusively done as a staged operation with an initial oesophagostomy and gastrostomy followed by the definitive surgery months later. This study presents a series of patients in whom a cervical oesophagostomy was not performed before the substitution surgery. Patients and Methods: Records of EA patients were evaluated for those who underwent colon interposition without cervical oesophagostomy. Results: There were five patients: three with pure EA and two with proximal tracheo-oesophageal fistula. A delayed primary repair could not be performed because of intra-abdominally located distal pouch. The mean age at the time of definitive operation was 5.54 (±2.7) months and the mean weight was 6.24 (±1.3) kg. A right or a left colonic segment was used for interposition keeping the proximal anastomosis within the thorax. The post-operative results were quite satisfactory within a median follow-up period of 33.2 months. Conclusion: Avoiding cervical oesophagostomy and its inherent complications and drawbacks is possible in a subset of patients with long-gap EA who underwent colonic substitution surgery. This approach may be seen as an extension of the consensus that the native oesophagus should be preserved whenever possible, because it uses the native oesophagus in its entirety.

Background: Colorectal polyps are among the common causes for rectal bleeding in children. They rarely have malignant potential. This study aims to present a clinical experience on colorectal polyps with an emphasis on utility of colonoscopy in these children. Methods: File records of patients treated between the years 2001-2011 were retrospectively evaluated in terms of age, sex, diagnostic methods, localization of polyps and pathological results. Results: There were 63 patients with a mean age of 6 years (1-15 years). Among these, 38 (60 %) were males and 25 (40 %) females. The presenting complaint was rectal bleeding in 60, prolapsed polyps in 2 and prolapsed rectum in one. The use of colonoscopy was initiated within the last 9-month of the study period. The polyps were removed by transanal route in 54. Colonoscopy was done with successful removal in all except one for the remaining 9 and yielded polyps in rectum in 4, in sigmoid colon in 3, in transverse colon in one and multiple polyps in one. Histopathology results were available in 62 and consistent with juvenile polyps in 51, hamartamatous in 2, hyperplastic in 2, pseudopolyps in 4, lymphoid in 2 and inflammatory fibroid in one. Conclusions: Although many rectal polyps are palpated and can be removed by anorectal route in children, the incidence of nonpalpable rectal polyps and colonic polyps should not be underestimated. The polyps are benign in most children. Colonoscopic examination increases the diagnostic accuracy and adds to the treatment keeping the possible presence of premalignant conditions in these children. Routine colonoscopic examination should be offered for all children with suspected or proven polyps.

Künt karın travmasına bağlı pankreas laserasyonu göreceli olarak enderdir ve tedavi yaklaşımı standart değildir. Yazıda bisikletten düşme sonrasında pankreas kaput/korpus bileşkesinde pankreatik kanalı da kapsayan tama yakın ruptür saptanan bir hastanın geliş bulguları, klinik seyri, tanı ve konservatif tedavi süreci anlatılmıştır.