New technique for enterostomy of extremely low-birth-weight infants--intestinal anchoring with gauze.
BACKGROUND
In enterostomy for extremely low-birth-weight infants (<1000 g), the technique of anchoring the intestine for a stoma to the abdominal wall is very difficult because of the small size and fragile nature of the intestine. Here we describe a novel technique for intestinal anchoring in such infants.


METHODS
In our approach to enterostomy, the intestine is anchored only by a strip of gauze packed into the subcutaneous space. No suturing is performed. The efficacy of this technique was evaluated in 21 infants with less than 1000 g of body weight who have intestinal perforation or obstruction.


RESULTS
Two patients (9.5%) had complications that were related to the enterostomy. The complications were parastomal and intrastomal intestinal prolapse, both of which were treated successfully by reoperation. Eighteen patients (86%) survived to closure of the enterostoma.


CONCLUSIONS
Intestinal anchoring with gauze is an easy and effective technique for enterostomy in extremely low-birth-weight infants and can be applied in selected cases.
Kondo
Kazuhiro
K
Department of Surgical Oncology and Regulation of Organ Function, Miyazaki University School of Medicine, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
Chijiiwa
Kazuo
K
Mukai
Motoi
M
Iwamura
Takeshi
T
Matsuda
Hiromitsu
H
Kaneko
Masatoki
M
Kodama
Yuki
Y
Sameshima
Hiroshi
H
Ikenoue
Tsuyomu
T
D004766:Enterostomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male