WOFAPS 2025 8th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery

Senda Houidi, Fatma Thamri, Arije Zouaoui, Yasmine Karoui, Yosra Kerkeni, Sondes Sahli, Riadh Jouini

children hospital Bechir Hamza, Pediatric surgery department A Tunis Tunisia

Background

It has been previously suggested that very low birth weight infants undergoing operation for esophageal atresia are a ‘high risk’ peri-operative group. Our aim was to determine if birth-weight (BW) the outcomes of newborns undergoing operation for esophageal atresia and tracheo-esophageal fistula (EA-TEF).

Methods

We performed a retrospective study including all the patients operated on for an esophageal atresia between the 1^st of January 2015 and the 31^st of December 2024. Newborns were categorized into two groups based on BW; Group A < 1.5 kg and Group >1.5 kg. We reviewed the clinical data , the mortality and the occurrence of anastomotic leak and stricture.

Results

Sixty two patients underwent surgery for EA-TEF during the study period, Group A (n = 13), Group B (n = 49). The standard primary anastomosis was achieved at a significantly higher rate in group B than in group A ( 95% ,vs 89 % , p=0,256) cases than in the other groups (p < 0.05)Mortality rate was significantly higher in Group A vs Group B (P =0.0158). Anastomotic leakage occurred in 24% of patients with VLBW and in 17% with BW>1500 g, (p = 0.31).Birth weight did not seemto impact the development of anastomotic stenosis ( P=0.345)

Conclusions

In our study , birth weight did not appear to have an impact on the risk of anastomotic leakage or stenosis development following EA repair.