Portion of the small intestine, showing congenital atresia
GC.10122
Portion of the small intestine, showing congenital atresia (abnormal narrowing of passages).
From a full term male baby. For the first twenty-four hours the child fed well but then proceeded to vomit gastric contents, then bile-stained fluid, and finally intestinal contents. There was marked abdominal distension with complete obstruction of the bowels and he died eighty-four hours after birth.
On post mortem exanimation the stomach and duodenum were normal. The small intestine in its upper part was extremely distended. The distension stopped short in the mid-ileum where the bowel was completely stenosed (abnormally constricted). The distal ileum and colon appeared to be normal and the upper viscera were normal.
The specimen shows the greatly distended small intestine above terminating in a complete stricture of the ileum. The stricture is approximately 2 cm in length and this part of the intestine is represented by a fibrous cord without evident lumen. Below this level the lumen appears to be normal though collapsed.
