NORMAL AND ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ABDOMINAL WALL

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A COHORT STUDY TO INVESTIGATE NORMAL AND ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ABDOMINAL WALL MUSCLES, IN THE FOETUS, NEONATE AND CHILD, ASSOCIATED WITH ABDOMINAL WALL DEFECTS, IN CHILDREN UP TO 18 YEARS OF AGE, AT SHEFFIELD CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

• IRAS ID

  310199

• Contact name

  Sean Marven

• Contact email

  sean.marven@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 9 months, 25 days

• Research summary

  Abdominal wall defects affect the normal anatomy, and sometimes function, of the anterior (front) abdominal wall. They can either be congenital (defects which occur during foetal development) or acquired (after the child has been born). Surgical intervention is available for all of the described abdominal wall defects.
  
  Examples of congenital abdominal defects include gastroschisis, exomphalos and umbilical hernias.

  Gastroschisis occurs in newborn babies when a defect in the abdominal wall leads to the intestines protruding through the abdominal wall. The intestines are usually to the right of the umbilical cord and do not have any overlying membranes. Exomphalos (also known as omphalocele), occurs in the centre of the abdomen at the belly button and is characterised by a ‘sac’ of organs (usually the intestines, liver and stomach) protruding out of the abdominal wall. An umbilical hernia is a painless lump at the belly button which usually self-resolve by the time the child is 4 years old.
  
  In particular the study is assessing the ‘divarication of rectus abdominis muscles (DRAM)’ in patients with or without abdominal wall defects. In abdominal anatomy, there is a straight line running down the middle of our abdomen - from the bottom of the breast bone (xiphisternum), down to the belly button (umbilicus) and down to the pubic bone at the lowest part of the abdomen. This line is called the linea alba. The DRAM is the distance between the two abdominal muscles either side of the central line. There is paucity of data in the literature of DRAM in the paediatric population.
  
  This study will look at the extent to which DRAM occurs in children who are born with atypical abdominal wall anatomy, and if there is a statistically significant difference when compared with children who were born with typical abdominal wall anatomy.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  22/YH/0062

• Date of REC Opinion

  21 Mar 2022

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion