Gastric tube oesophagoplasty for oesophageal atresia: a follow-up study. Part II: Radiologic, endoscopic and histologic controls.

In 1982 a programme of multi-disciplinary follow-up on 12 patients that underwent a gastric tube oesophagoplasty for long-gap oesophageal atresia was started. Radiological examination, performed on all gastric tubes but one (died a few days after surgery), assessed the morphology and dynamics of gastric tube, either distally or proximally based, and stomach 2 to 8 years after surgery. Endoscopic backward exploration was performed on 7 cases, to allow a closer analysis of stomach, gastric tube mucosa and upper oesophageal stump, demonstrating that the gastric transplant is viable and almost undamaged. No evidence of oesophagitis of the proximal stump was found. Histological stainings on biopsy specimens and on sections from one post-mortem examination, showed a mild degree of dystrophy in gastric tube mucosa, progressively shading into proper gastric mucosa. No evidence of a progressive change for the worse was found in any of the 7 tubes controlled.