Erudition after neonatal gastric transposition for esophageal atresia at 10 years of follow-up

Abstract

Background: Gastric transposition (GT) is a well-established procedure of esophageal re­placement (ER) for children with esophageal atresia. ER in the neonatal period is sparsely reported. We report characteristics of children who have undergone neonatal GT and have completed ten years of follow-up. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted which included all children who under­went neonatal GT at the institute and have completed a follow-up of at least 10-years. An­thropometry, oral contrast study, Hepatobiliary Scintigraphy, Gastroesophageal reflux study, Gastric emptying test, spirometry, and blood investigations were done for all the children. Results: Four children (three male and one female) were included in the study. The mean age at ER was 5.3 ±2.2 days with a mean birth-weight of 2.43 ±0.13 kg. Two children had prima­ry GT, while the other two had GT following a leak in primary anastomosis. During the mean follow-up of 180.25 ±43.5 months, none of the children required esophageal dilatation or other surgical intervention or procedures. All children were below 3rd centile for weight-for-age while all except one were below 50th centile for height-for-age. There was no stricture on oral contrast study, however, one child had grade III reflux on GER scan. Persistent duode­nogastric reflux on HIDA scan was seen in one child. Three children had restrictive parame­ters on spirometry. Symptomatically, all reported poor weight gain, one had left vocal cord palsy with hoarseness, and one had chest-wall protuberance. Conclusions: Neonatal gastric transposition is a feasible alternative to delayed esophageal replacement for neonates with esophageal atresia with limited complications.

Keywords

• Esophageal replacement
• Gastric transposition
• Neonate
• Gastric pull up