Evaluation of the symptoms of dysphagia and gastroesophageal reflux after Heller esophagomyotomy with/without fundoplication in children with achalasia
T Soyer, Ş Yalçın, S Ekinci, İ Karnak, AÖ Çiftçi, FC Tanyel
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of Pediatric Surgery
Aim: To evaluate the symptoms of dysphagia and gastroesophageal reflux
(GER) after modified Heller esophagomyotomy (MHE) with/without fundoplication
in children with achalasia, and to investigate the correlation of the symptoms
with the presence of fundoplication procedure. Methods: Children who underwent MHE for the last 15 years were evaluated
for age, sex, diagnostic methods, number of preoperative and postoperative
esophageal dilatations and results of surgical interventions retrospectively.
Postoperative dysphagia was evaluated with dysphagia score (DS) [mild:1-44,
severe:>44] and pediatric eating assessment tool-10 (pEAT-10), and GER was
evaluated with reflux score (RS) and upper gastrointestinal (UGI) studies.
Results of the patients who underwent MHE with and without NF were compared
with non-parametric tests.Results: Twenty-three patients who responded DS, pEAT-10 and RS were
included. Six of the cases underwent only MHE and Nissen fundoplication (NF)
was included in 17 cases. Demographic features, diagnostic methods, number of
esophageal dilatations and median scores of DS, EAT-10 and RS are listed in
Table 1. Four of the cases (23.5%) in MHE+NF group required reoperations for
swallowing problems. Hiatus was widened (n=1), and NF was converted to partial
fundoplication (n=3). None of the patients had GER in postoperative UGI
studies. Conclusion: Postoperative dysphagia is still a common problem after successful HE in children. Difficulty in
swallowing requires detailed evaluation of possible problems relevant to NF,
and may even necessitate reoperation. Even it was not significant, patients
without NF revealed better swallowing and eating capabilities, none of them had
severe GER symptoms that required medical or surgical GER treatment.
Parameters
MHE (n=6)
MHE+NF (n=17)
P values
Age (median)
14.5 (10-15)
12 (1-17)
>0.05
Sex (male:female)
1:2
10:7
>0.05
Upper GI and endoscopy
All
All
>0.05
Manometer
2
8
>0.05
Preoperative esophageal dilatation
1
2
>0.05
Postoperative esophageal dilatation
3
8
>0.05
Reoperation
0
4
>0.05
Dysphagia score median
No (DS=0)
Mild (DS=1-44)
Severe (DS>44)
0 (0-20)
4 (66%)
2 (33%)
0
0 (0-22.5)
9 (53%)
8 (47%)
0
>0.05
pEAT-10
0 (0-13)
2 (0-15)
>0.05
GER symptom score
2 (0-7)
2.5 (0-5)
>0.05
GER in postoperative UGI
None
None
>0.05
Median time between MHE
and evaluation (years)
2.5
6.5
>0.05
Keywords: