Minimally Invasive Redo Pull-Throughs in Hirschsprung Disease.

Introduction

To reoperate a patient with Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) can be technically demanding and most surgeons would resort to conventional laparotomy. This article describes a series of patients with postoperative obstructive symptoms who underwent minimally invasive redo pull-throughs (MIRPT) (either laparoscopic or robotic) to assess the role of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in complicated HSCR patients. Patients and

Methods

All consecutive HSCR patients with postoperative obstructive symptoms, who underwent MIRPT with fast track concepts of care between January 2012 and January 2020, have been included. Data regarding indications, surgical details, complications, and outcome have been compared to those of a series of patients who underwent conventional laparotomic redo.

Results

Sixteen patients were included. Male to female ratio was 4.3:1. Median age at surgery was 78 months. Eleven patients underwent laparoscopic redo and 5 underwent robotic redo. Median length of follow-up was 49 months. Reasons for redoing were transition zone pull-through, residual aganglionosis, anastomotic retraction or leak, rectal diverticulum, and refractory anastomotic stricture. No major intraoperative complication occurred. No conversion to laparotomy was required. One patient experienced cuff stricture requiring laparoscopic release. Two patients reported bouts of enterocolitis postoperatively. Compared to classic laparotomic redo pull-throughs (49 patients with complete data), overall complications were significantly less frequent, accounting for 1 and 21 events, respectively (6% versus 43%) (P = .0067). Continence after a median of 21 months postoperatively scored excellent to good in 9 out of 12 patients, who were assessed on this regard (75%), without statistically significant differences.

Conclusions

MIRPT proved to be effective and safe in HSCR patients complaining postoperative obstructive symptoms. Robotic surgery could play a crucial. Our study confirms that complicated HSCR cases can be safely managed by means of MIS, applying concepts of fast track care to serve the best for our patients.