Doctors at the Hospital Materno-Infantil Infanta delivered nine newborns with anorectal defects in 2011. When expanded to a larger scale for assessment of risk, the hospital delivered equivalent to 13.3 cases per 10,000 births, but the traditional risk model assumes 2 cases per 10,000 births. Doctors chose to investigate the cases for possible cause. The results of the investigation were published in the journal Cirugia Pediatrica.
Doctors pulled the medical files for all newborns born with anorectal malformation in 2011. Information pulled from the files included most perinatal, prenatal and postnatal information, including treatment of the condition and current status.
Researchers found a high male dominance in anorectal malformation patients (8/1). There was at least one additional malformation is all cases, but no known cause or similarity could be pinpointed as the primary reason for the increased number of anorectal malformations in the given year. Researchers continue to investigate the cases in hopes of finding a cause.
Source: Moreno Hurtado C, Amat Valero S, Fuentes Bolaño N, Núñez Núñez R, Blesa Sánchez E, Cavaco Fernandes R. Increase of newborns with anorectal malformation in 2011. Is it just by chance? Cir Pediatr. 2012 Oct;25(4):187-92.