title: Long-term evaluation of respiratory status after esophageal atresia repair.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Esophageal atresia (EA) is a congenital malformation. Nowadays, its initial prognosis is excellent thanks to improvements in neonatal and surgical management. However, the assessment of long-term respiratory outcome has become necessary in affected children and was thus performed in this study. The benefits of cardiopulmonary function testing were also examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 77 children operated on for EA between 1990 and 2004 were reviewed. The results of respiratory function testing and cardiopulmonary response to effort were collected, together with neonatal and anthropometric data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Acceptable measurements were obtained in 31 children with EA. These children were comparable to the ones lost during follow-up. The results of pulmonary function tests (PFTs) were abnormal in 21 cases (68%). A poor ventilatory response was detected in 14 children (45%) by cardiopulmonary function testing. Ten children who had abnormal results on PFTs were not under any anti-asthmatic treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Impaired lung function was noted in children with repaired EA. Indeed, cardiopulmonary function tests results correlated with standard spirometric parameters and revealed minimal clinical symptoms. Moreover, many children with EA had a limited ventilatory reserve (VR). These results indicate that respiratory symptoms are often neglected in children with repaired EA and reinforce the need to provide adequate treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Pulmonology, CHU Hôpital Sud, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beucher
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wagnon
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Habonimana
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fremond
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lapostolle
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guillot
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Azzis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dabadie
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Deneuville
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004933:Esophageal Atresia / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013147:Spirometry; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014797:Vital Capacity