Hirschsprung's disease, or congenital intestinal aganglionosis, was named after Harald Hirschsprung, a Danish paediatrician who gave the first description of the condition in 1886. At first the massive dilatation of the colon was believed to be caused by an abnormality within the dilated colon itself and the condition was therefore called “congenital megacolon”. Sir Frederick Treves (1898) performed the first curative operation. While operating on a six year old girl he noted that although there was massive dilatation of the proximal colon, the lower sigmoid colon and rectum were narrow. He performed an abdominoperineal resection of the distal colon and rectum with anastomosis of the proximal colon to the anal margin. The patient was known to survive at least until 67 years of age.

The true cause …