Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of neonates with congenital duodenal obstruction: a 10-year experience of trans-anastomotic tube use at a tertiary center in Oman.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of neonates with congenital duodenal obstruction (CDO) and to describe postoperative outcomes of intraoperative trans-anastomotic feeding tube (TAT) placement.

METHODS

We included a retrospective cohort of infants diagnosed (≤1 month of age) with CDO at the Royal Hospital, Oman, between January 2012 and December 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize numerical and categorical data. A subgroup analysis compared outcomes between infants with TAT (Group 1) and without TAT (Group 2). Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, analysis of variance, and χ2 test as appropriate.

RESULTS

Forty-two infants were included; 24 were born ≥38 weeks, 23 were female and 24 had birth weight ≥2.5 kg. Intrinsic CDO was the most common presentation (n=21). Cardiac anomalies were present in 19 infants, and syndromes in 18 infants, mainly trisomy 21 (n=11). In subgroup analysis, Group 1 (n=13) had a longer median hospital stay than Group 2 (n=18), but this failed to reach statistical significance (22 vs. 16 days, p=0.13). Rates of central line insertion (69.2% vs. 66.7%, p=0.88), parenteral nutrition (76.9% vs. 83.3%, p=0.65), duration of total parenteral nutrition (12.5 vs. 11 days, p=0.96), time to start enteral feeds (4 vs. 4 days, p=0.93) and time to full enteral feeds (10 vs. 12 days, p=0.32) were similar between groups. Overall complication rate was 19.4% (6/31), with no TAT-related complications.

CONCLUSION

Demographic and clinical characteristics were comparable with international findings. TAT insertion was safe but did not improve postoperative outcomes.