Magnamosis for esophageal atresia is associated with anastomotic strictures requiring an increased number of dilatations.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Magnamosis is a novel technique which utilizes high power magnets to anastomose the esophageal ends in children with esophageal atresia (EA) with or without a tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF), theoretically avoiding the need for thoracotomy. The objective of this study was to compare anastomotic stricture formation requiring dilatation after magnamosis versus after conventional anastomosis.

METHODS

Our center treated the first 3 cases of EA ± TEF with magnamosis in Canada. One was unsuccessful and excluded from our study. The number of postintervention dilatations was compared to controls from our database, which includes all children with EA ± TEF treated between 1991 and 2015. The controls had EA ± TEF treated with pouch-to-end anastomosis or colonic interposition (n = 65). Mann-Whitney U tests were used with p < 0.05 being significant.

RESULTS

The 2 magnamosis cases had a mean of 13.5 dilatations, compared to 2.6 for the controls. Those managed with pouch-to-end anastomosis or colonic interposition had a mean of 2.3 and 2.7 dilatations, respectively. We found that the cases required more dilatations than controls (p = 0.022) and pouch-to-end anastomosis (p = 0.021), but not than colonic interposition (p = 0.106).

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that magnamosis is associated with more postintervention dilatations than conventional anastomotic techniques, suggesting that magnamosis results in more frequent and/or more resilient anastomotic strictures.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.