The Safety and Effectiveness of Laparoscopic versus Open Surgery for Congenital Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis in Infants

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic pyloromyotomy for infants with congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS The clinical data of 233 infants with congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis who were treated at our hospital from January 2013 to January 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into 2 groups: the laparoscopic group (group A, n=126) and the conventional operation group (group B, n=107). RESULTS Laparoscopic surgery was successfully performed in all patients in the laparoscopic group, and none of the surgeries were converted to open surgery. Compared with traditional surgery, laparoscopic surgery has obvious advantages in operation time (29.8±12.9 minutes versus 37.2±17.5 minutes, P=0.012), postoperative feeding time (10.3±2.2 hours versus 15.2±4.1 hours, P=0.035), postoperative hospitalization time (2.8±0.7 days versus 3.5±1.9 days, P=0.013), incision length (0.9±0.2 cm versus 3.3±0.8 cm, P=0.002) and poor wound healing (0 versus 6, P=0.007). No complications, such as bleeding, gastric perforation, duodenal injury, abdominal infection or recurrent vomiting, were observed in the 2 groups. The growth and development (weight and height) of the infants in both groups were normal. CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopic pyloromyotomy has the same safety and effectiveness as the traditional operation and has the advantages of less trauma, faster recovery and cosmetically pleasing incisions.