Open vs laparoscopic repair of congenital duodenal obstructions: a concurrent series.
OBJECTIVE
The advantages of using laparoscopy for repair of congenital duodenal obstructions (CDO) are unclear because of scant data about complications and outcomes. Nitinol U-clips (Medtronic Surgical, Minneapolis, Minn) were developed to assist in the creation of vascular anastomoses in small vessels. Because of their ability to approximate tissue tightly with little tissue damage, we have begun to use these U-clips for laparoscopic repair of CDO. In this report, we investigate the impact of laparoscopic U-clip repair of CDO compared to the traditional open repair.


METHODS
With institutional review board approval, a retrospective analysis of all patients undergoing repair of CDO from January 2003 to July 2007 was performed. During this study period, patients who underwent open repair of CDO (group 1) were compared with patients that underwent laparoscopic repair using the U-clip technique (group 2).


RESULTS
Twenty-nine patients underwent repair of CDO. Fourteen patients (11 atresia, 3 stenosis) were in group 1 and 15 patients (11 atresia, 4 stenosis) in group 2. A female sex bias existed in group 1 (female-male [9:5]) compared to group 2 (female-male [7:8]). There was no difference in birth weight, age at operation, chromosomal anomalies, or congenital heart disease between the groups. There were no duodenal anastomotic leaks in either group. Operative times were similar between groups (96 vs 126 minutes; P = .06). The length of postoperative hospitalization (20.1 vs 12.9 days; P = .01), time to initial feeding (11.3 vs 5.4 days; P = .002), and time to full oral intake (16.9 vs 9 days; P = .007) were all statistically shorter in group 2.


CONCLUSIONS
The laparoscopic approach to CDO repair using U-clips is safe and efficacious. In addition, patients undergoing laparoscopic repair of CDO had a shorter length of hospitalization and more rapid advancement to full feeding compared to babies undergoing the open approach. We feel that in the hands of experienced laparoscopic surgeons, the preferred technique for correction of CDO will become the laparoscopic U-clip repair.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, The Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA.
Troy L
TL
Spilde
Shawn D
SD
St Peter
Scott J
SJ
Keckler
George W
GW
Holcomb
Charles L
CL
Snyder
Daniel J
DJ
Ostlie
D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004065:Digestive System Abnormalities / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D004380:Duodenal Obstruction / Q000151:congenital* / Q000601:surgery*; D004384:Duodenoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014839:Vomiting