SIMPLE CONGENITAL ANORECTAL STRICTURE WITH MEGACOLON IN EARLY INFANCY

Congenital anorectal stricture, unaccompanied by other anomalies of that region, is apparently a rare condition, if one may judge from the literature. Especially infrequent are reports of cases seen in infancy, or as a cause of megacolon. In support of these statements I might quote from two recent (1923) papers of Vernon David:1 The different types of imperforate anus, varying from complete lack of formation of the rectum to the incomplete formation of the rectum with fistulae leading from the rectal pouch to the bladder, urethra, vagina and perineum, are well known and well described in the many textbooks of embryology, pathology and surgery. In contrast, congenital strictures of the rectum with the external anal opening apparently normal are rare, and not only is scant mention made of them in textbooks but reported cases are very infrequently seen. In a second paper, after referring to an operation for megacolon