Pyloromyotomy: comparison between laparoscopic and open surgical techniques.

Several reports have appeared in the literature recently describing various techniques of performing pyloromyotomy laparoscopically. Although there is no doubt that this is now technically feasible, there are unanswered questions with regard to its safety, efficacy, and potential benefits or otherwise to the patient. In an attempt to resolve some of these issues, we compared the results in 37 infants who underwent open pyloromyotomy with 26 who underwent laparoscopic pyloromyotomy. The two groups were similar in terms of sex, age, weight, and presenting pH, although they could not be randomized. The time from feeding to discharge was less for the laparoscopic group (1.4 days) compared with the open group (1.8 days) (p = 0.04). Postoperative vomiting was not significantly different between the two groups. The operating time was identical for groups, 29 min vs 27 min. There were 3 complications in the open surgical group and 1 in the laparoscopic group. On the criteria measured, our results suggests that laparoscopic pyloromyotomy is at least as good as conventional surgery, and offers the potential benefits of shortened hospital stay and minimal cosmetic deformity.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes