Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of anorectal malformations (ARMs) and explore the influencing factors of postoperative anal function in Anhui Province of China.Methods: We performed a retrospective study of ARM patients diagnosed from 2013 to 2016 at Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital. A total of 332 infants with ARM were enrolled in the survey. Demographic characteristic and clinical data were collected. Follow-up study was required to evaluate anal function after the operation and Logistic regression analysis was used for analyzing the influencing factors of prognosis.Results: A total of 253 males and 79 females were studied, with a ratio of 3.2:1. Abdominal distention was the most common presenting symptom, followed by vomiting. Of the cases, 53.0% (176/332) combined with other congenital malformations. The incidence of other malformations in intermediate and high ARM group was significantly higher than that in the low ARM group. Of the cases, 280 underwent anoplasty. 188, 73, 19 cases were treated with one-stage perineal anoplasty, posterior sagittal anorectoplasty, laparoscopically assisted anorectal pull-through, respectively. The result of follow-up study showed that the excellent and good rate of postoperative anal function was up to 83.3%. Type of ARM, combined with other malformations and the times of anoplasty were related to the anal function postoperatively.Conclusions: ARM occurs mainly in male infants. The incidence of associated abnormalities in ARM patients was high. Intermediate- and high-type, combined with other malformations and more times of anoplasty increased the risk of anal dysfunction postoperatively. Multicenter, prospective randomized-controlled studies were needed to clarify the curative effect of different surgical approaches.
Keywords: Anorectal malformations; anal function; clinical features; prognosis.