WOFAPS 2025 8th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery

Fuad Hüseynov

Azerbaijan State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors, Department of

Introduction. According to the European Epidemiological Investigations into Congenital Anomalies, the reported incidence of CDH in 2019 among all pregnancy outcomes starting at 20 weeks was 3.11 per 10,000 and 2.15 per 10,000 live births. Research focuses on neonatal CDH cases as it is one of the most challenging conditions to treat surgically. Many experts confirm the high relevance, medical and social significance of this developmental defect in modern medicine.

The aim of this study was to assess and present the outcome of thoracoscopic surgery for quality of life indications in newborns with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Materials and methods. The study included 70 newborns diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Depending on the method of surgical intervention, the children were divided into 2 groups. The comparison group included 44 newborns operated on using the traditional open method, and the main group - 26 newborns operated on using a new minimally invasive surgical technique - endosurgery. The effects of early surgical intervention on recovery outcomes were substantiated by the QUALIN - children's quality of life survey.

Results. The study showed that, in the opinion of both parents and pediatricians, the quality of life of the examined children before treatment was significantly lower for all indicators of the QUALIN scale than the data before treatment - p <0.05. A thorough statistical analysis of the obtained data demonstrated certain advantages of minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery over traditional methods of open surgery. There were no statistically significant differences between the parents' and the doctor's indicators. In both cases, statistically significant differences were revealed in the parameters "Ability to remain alone" (ARA) and and "Psychological and somatic well-being" (PSWB). Thus, according to the results of the QUALIN questionnaire, an improvement in all indicators in the postoperative period was noted in the main and control groups. Also, in the main group, the indicators were high for all parameters according to both parents and doctors. However, statistical reliability was achieved for ARA and PSWB parameters.

Conclusions. As a result of description the surgical technique and early results of thoracoscopic repair of CDH in children, it was possible to achieve positive dynamics in quality of life. The obtained results demonstrate the need to monitor quality of life indicators as a criterion for surgical outcome assessment for children born in critical condition, and can serve as a basis for consensus recommendations for improving the quality of surgical care for this category of patients.