Background: Meckel's diverticulum is the most common anomaly of the intestine. It is usually
asymptomatic but could also be symptomatic with complications such as bleeding, intestinal obstruction,
and inflammation. This study was performed to assess the frequency of various presentations of the patients
who underwent surgery with the diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum in Children's Medical Center, Tehran,
Iran from March 2005 to March 2011.
Material and Methods: Since this study is a case series report (retrospective descriptive study) and the
purpose is assessing the various presentation of Meckel’s` diverticulum, we express the frequency and
percent frequency of each presentation. The data collection tool was a five-part survey form. The first part
was related to demographic data, the second part was related to clinical data, the third part was related to
diagnostic data, the fourth part was related to treatment data and the fifth part was related to histological
data. Data were analysed using SPSS statistical program.
Result: We found 49 patients in this period (71% male 29% female). The mean age was 3.5 years (1 month
to 9 years). The male to female ratio was 2.5. The most common clinical symptoms were abdominal pain
(63%). forty-three percent of patients had single symptoms and the others had combined symptoms such as
abdominal pain and hematochezia. Only 8 patients with lower gastrointestinal bleeding had a Technetium
scan and all of them were positive. Associated findings during surgery included appendicitis and
invagination. Our sonographic imaging findings were nonspecific. In the pathologic report, 6 patients had
gangrene in specimens and 2 perforations. The lining was of gastric type in 24 specimens pancreatic in 3
and mixed in 2 specimens. None of those with the gastric type of mucosa showed Helicobacter pylori
infection.
Conclusion: Regarding our findings, clinical findings of Meckel's diverticulum in our study were rather the
same as in the literature. Pathologic examination of specimens revealed that most diverticula were lined by
gastric type of mucosa. None of those with the gastric type of mucosa showed Helicobacter pylori infection.