Gastroesophageal reflux disease in children: efficacy of Nissen fundoplication in treating digestive and respiratory symptoms. Experience of a single center.

Fundoplication has been commonly performed in neurologically impaired and normal children with complicated gastroesophageal reflux disease. The relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease and respiratory diseases is still unclear. We aimed to compare results of open and laparoscopic procedures, as well as the impact of fundoplication over digestive and respiratory symptoms. From January 2000 to June 2007, 151 children underwent Nissen fundoplication. Data were prospectively collected regarding age at surgery, presence of neurologic handicap, symptoms related to reflux (digestive or respiratory, including recurrent lung infections and reactive airways disease), surgical approach, concomitant procedures, complications, and results. Mean age was 6 years and 9 months. Eighty-two children (54.3%) had neurological handicaps. The surgical approach was laparoscopy in 118 cases and laparotomy in 33. Dysphagia occurred in 23 patients submitted to laparoscopic and none to open procedure (P = 0.01). A total of 86.6% of patients with digestive symptoms had complete resolution or significant improvement of the problems after the surgery. A total of 62.2% of children with recurrent lung infections showed any reduction in the frequency of pneumonias. Only 45.2% of patients with reactive airway disease had any relief from bronchospasm episodes after fundoplication. The comparisons demonstrated that Nissen fundoplication was more effective for the resolution of digestive symptoms than to respiratory manifestations (P = 0.04). Open or laparoscopic fundoplication are safe procedures with acceptable complication indices and the results of the surgery are better for digestive than for respiratory symptoms.

Total gastric transposition is better than partial gastric tube esophagoplasty for esophageal replacement in children.

Whenever the surgeon uses the stomach as an esophageal substitute, either one of two techniques is generally performed: total gastric transposition or gastric tube esophagoplasty. No existing reports compare the complications associated with these two surgical procedures. The purpose of this study is to review the authors' experience with total gastric transposition and verify whether this technique is superior to gastric tube esophagoplasty in children by comparing the main complications with those reported in the publications of gastric tubes esophagoplasties in the English language literature published in the last 38 years. A total of 35 children underwent total gastric transposition according to the classical technique. Most of these patients (27, or 77.1%) had long gap esophageal atresia. The most frequently observed complications were compared to those reported in nine studies of gastric tube esophagoplasty comprising 184 patients. Mortality and graft failure rates were also compared. Seven patients (20.0%) presented with leaks, all of which closed spontaneously. Six children were reoperated, three experienced gastric outlet obstruction secondary to axial torsion of the stomach placed in the retrosternal space and the other three experienced delayed gastric emptying that required revision of the piloroplasty. There were two deaths (5.7%) and no graft failure. Strictures were observed in five patients (14.2%) and all of these were resolved with endoscopic dilatations. Six patients had diarrhea that spontaneously resolved. In the late follow-up period, all patients were on full feed and thriving well. The comparisons with gastric tube patients demonstrated that the total gastric transposition group presented with significantly less leaks and strictures (P = 0.0001 and 0.001, respectively). The incidence of death and graft failure was not statistically different. In conclusion, gastric transposition is as a simple technical procedure for esophageal replacement in children with satisfactory results, and is superior to gastric tube esophagoplasty.

Anti-leishmania antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid from dogs with visceral leishmaniasis.

Visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil is caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi and the dog is its most important reservoir. The clinical features in dogs include loss of weight, lymphadenopathy, renal failure, skin lesions, fever, hypergammaglobulinemia, hepatosplenomegaly, anemia, and, rarely, neurological symptoms. Most infected animals develop active disease, characterized by high anti-leishmania antibody titers and depressed lymphoproliferative ability. Antibody production is not primarily important for protection but might be involved in the pathogenesis of tissue lesions. An ELISA test was used to determine if there is an association between neurological symptoms and the presence of anti-L. chagasi antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Thirty serum and CSF samples from symptomatic mixed breed dogs (three with neurological symptoms) from a region of high incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil were examined for antibody using total parasite antigen and anti-dog IgG peroxidase conjugate. A high level of L. chagasi antibodies was observed in sera (mean absorbance SD, 1.939 0.405; negative control, N = 20, 0.154 0.074) and CSF (1.571 0.532; negative control, N = 10, 0.0195 0.040) from all animals studied. This observation suggests that L. chagasi can cause breakdown of filtration barriers and the transfer of antibodies and antigens from the blood to the CSF compartment. No correlation was observed between antibody titer in CSF and neurological symptoms.

Anti-leishmania antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid from dogs with visceral leishmaniasis

Visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil is caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi and the dog is its most important reservoir. The clinical features in dogs include loss of weight, lymphadenopathy, renal failure, skin lesions, fever, hypergammaglobulinemia, hepatosplenomegaly, anemia, and, rarely, neurological symptoms. Most infected animals develop active disease, characterized by high anti-leishmania antibody titers and depressed lymphoproliferative ability. Antibody production is not primarily important for protection but might be involved in the pathogenesis of tissue lesions. An ELISA test was used to determine if there is an association between neurological symptoms and the presence of anti-L. chagasi antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Thirty serum and CSF samples from symptomatic mixed breed dogs (three with neurological symptoms) from a region of high incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil were examined for antibody using total parasite antigen and anti-dog IgG peroxidase conjugate. A high level of L. chagasi antibodies was observed in sera (mean absorbance ± SD, 1.939 ± 0.405; negative control, N = 20, 0.154 ± 0.074) and CSF (1.571 ± 0.532; negative control, N = 10, 0.0195 ± 0.040) from all animals studied. This observation suggests that L. chagasi can cause breakdown of filtration barriers and the transfer of antibodies and antigens from the blood to the CSF compartment. No correlation was observed between antibody titer in CSF and neurological symptoms

Blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome.

The blue rubber nevus syndrome consists of multiple venous malformations in the skin and gastrointestinal tract associated with intestinal hemorrhage and iron deficiency anemia. Other organs may be involved. The causes of this syndrome are unknown. Its most common presentation is in the form of sporadic cases, but dominant autosomal inheritance has been described. It is a condition that affects both sexes equally, and its occurrence is rare in the black race. We present a case of this syndrome diagnosed in a 11-year-old patient. He had severe anemia and a venous swelling on the trunk. Similar lesions were found in the stomach, bowel, and on his foot. We emphasize the main clinical aspects: intestine, eyes, nasopharynx, parotids, lungs, liver, spleen, heart, brain, pleura, peritoneum, pericardium, skeletal muscles, bladder, and penis lesions, systemic complications that may occur to these patients which are thrombosis and calcification, as well as consumptive coagulopathy and thrombocytopenia that may occur within the nevi.

Prophylactic sclerotherapy in children with esophageal varices: long-term results of a controlled prospective randomized trial.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Experience using endoscopic prophylactic sclerotherapy (PS) is restricted to adult patients and has led to conflicting results. There has not been a randomized, controlled study on the use of PS in children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate prospectively the value of PS to prevent the first hemorrhage from esophageal varices in children with portal hypertension and to assess the effect of PS on survival rate. METHODS: In a controlled, prospective, computer-based randomized trial, the effectiveness of PS was analyzed in 100 consecutive children allocated to a group receiving sclerotherapy (n = 50) or to a control group (n = 50) subjected only to regular clinical and endoscopic examinations. Clinical characteristics in both groups were similar. The minimum follow-up period was at least 18 months after the cessation of the sessions of sclerotherapy. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 4.5 years, PS eliminated the esophageal varices in 47 of 50 (94%) patients but only 38 (76%) of them do not present upper digestive hemorrhage. Before complete obliteration of the varices, upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in 12 patients (24%). Six children (12%) had gastric varices, 3 of 6 of whom (50%) bled. Congestive hypertensive gastropathy was observed to occur in 8 (16%) patients, 4 of 8 of which (50%) had hemorrhagic episodes. Two patients bled from undetermined cause. In the control group, only 29 (58%) children remained free from esophageal variceal bleeding and 26 (52%) from any upper gastrointestinal bleeding (P<.05). During the follow-up period, the development of gastric varices was observed in 5 (10%) patients (P>.05) and of congestive hypertensive gastropathy in only 3 (6%) patients (P<.05), but none of them bled. PS does not improve survival rate. CONCLUSIONS: In children with cirrhotic and noncirrhotic portal hypertension, PS reduces the overall incidence of bleeding from esophageal varices that were eradicated in 94% of cases. The source of bleeding has been different in each group, being predominantly from esophageal varices in the control group and from the stomach in the prophylaxis group. When applied with appropriate technique, PS is a safe procedure with a low incidence of minor complications. PS does not change the incidence of gastric varices but increases the development of congestive hypertensive gastropathy. PS increases the risk of bleeding from the naturally formed gastric varices and from congestive hypertensive gastropathy. PS does not affect survival rate.

[Positive conversion of AARB results in gastric lavage, in a child with AIDS and tuberculosis, after endoscopic endobronchial puncture]. / Positivação da pesquisa de baar em lavado gástrico, em criança com AIDS e tuberculose, após realizaçao de punção endobrônquica via endoscópica.

A case of tuberculosis in a pediatric AIDS patient, submitted to bronchoscopy and transbronchial biopsy as a part of chronic pulmonary disease evaluation, is presented. No AFB (acid-fast bacillus) detection was identified by gastric lavage before the bronchoscopy, nevertheless after the bronchoscopic procedure the patient became contagious, and persisted with positive baciloscopy until the 56th day of therapy.

[Biliary tract dilatation and abnormal choledocho-pancreatic ductal junction in children]. / Dilatação da via biliar e anomalia da junção dos ductos colédoco e pancreático principal na criança.

Nine children aged between 2 months and 11 years, who had congenital dilatation of extrahepatic biliary tract, with or without intrahepatic dilatation, are presented. The radiological studies performed in eight patients demonstrated abnormal choledochopancreatico ductal junction. Thus, a long common channel is formed out of the duodenal wall, leading to a continuous reflux of pancreatic juice into the biliary system, chronic inflammation of biliary tract wall, fibrosis of muscular layer and finally different types of dilatations. The main clinical findings were upper abdominal pain, vomiting, or obstructive jaundice. In only one child the dilatation was cystic type and the clinical manifestation was palpable abdominal mass. In eight patients the initial diagnosis of biliary tract dilatation was made through abdominal ultrasound and in one case by direct visualization through emergent exploratory laparotomy. The final confirmation of the presence of long common channel was made by preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or intraoperative cholangiogram. The radiologic investigation was not performed in only one case due to bad clinical conditions. The surgical treatment indicated to all cases was Roux- en- Y hepatic- jejunostomy. The late follow up demonstrated that all patients are well and assymptomatic.

Treatment of portal hypertension in children.

The management of children with portal hypertension (PH) has substantially changed owing to the good results and broader application of both endoscopic sclerotherapy and orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Since the introduction of sclerotherapy for the treatment of bleeding esophageal varices, the number of surgical procedures has sharply decreased. Until the early 1980s, however, the treatment of choice of bleeding esophageal varices was based on different variations of two main types of open surgery: devacularization and transection operations and portosystemic shunts. The experience with nonshunt procedures is limited in the pediatric population. Literature reports from the last 25 years have emphasized a number of restrictions related to portosystemic shunts in small subjects. However, portosystemic shunts, selective or not, can be performed even in very young subjects with high rates of success. From 1974 to 1984 the distal splenorenal shunt (DSRS) was the procedure of choice for the treatment of children with variceal bleeding in our institution. Forty-two children underwent DSRS during this period. Since 1985, when endoscopic variceal sclerotherapy (EVS) replaced DSRS as the first therapeutic option in our service, this shunt has been performed in only 8 children in whom EVS has failed, none of them during the last 2 years. In this cohort of 50 cases of DSRS, the shunt patency has increased from 71% in the first 7 patients to 95% thereafter. There has been no perioperative mortality. From 1985 to April 1993, 107 children were submitted to EVS sessions for the treatment of esophageal varices bleeding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Compressöes do esôfago e da traquéia por anomalias do arco aórtico na infância / Compression of esophagus and trachea by aortic arch anomalies in childhood

De fevereiro de 1985 a novembro de 1992, 14 crianças portadoras de malformaçöes do arco aórtico foram atendias no Serviço de Cirurgia Pediátrica do Instituto da Criança da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Säo Paulo, compreendendo sete pacientes portadores de artéria subclávia direita anômala, quatro portadores de duplo arco aórtico e três portadores de arco aórtico à direita com presença de ligamento arterioso O diagnóstico preciso da malformaçäo foi feito apenas através de esofagograma e traqueobroncoscopia. O tratamento cirúrgico foi realizado através de toracotomia póstero-lateral esquerda em todos os casos, a qual proporcionou uma excelente exposiçäo das anomalias. Näo houve óbito intra-operatório. Ocorreram três óbitos no pós-operatório tardio, decorrentes de lesöes pulmonares crônicas (2) e traqueomalácia grave (1), que se tornou sintomática apenas após a correçäo cirúrgica da anomalia. As principais complicaçöes ocorridas estäo diretamente relacionadas à demora no diagnóstico das malformaçöes. Os autores concluem que a existência dessa anomalias deve ser sempre suspeitada em crianças com sintomas respiratórios de origem indeterminada, sendo o diagnóstico feito de forma simples, basicamente através do esofagograma e da traqueoscopia

[Compression of esophagus and trachea by aortic arch anomalies in childhood]. / Compressões do esôfago e da traquéia por anomalias do arco aórtico na infância.

From February 1985 to November 1992, 14 children with aortic arch anomalies and tracheal and/or esophageal compression were treated at the Pediatric Surgery Division of the São Paulo University School of Medicine. There were 3 cases of double aortic arch, 3 of right aortic arch with ligamentum arteriosum and 4 of aberrant right subclavian artery. Accurate diagnosis was based only on barium esophagoradiogram and, eventually, tracheobroncoscopy. The surgical approach was made through a left posterolateral thoracotomy that allowed an adequate exposure of the malformations. There was no operative mortality. There were 3 late post-operative deaths, 2 of them caused by chronic pulmonary lesions owing to delayed diagnosis. The other child died from complications of a severe tracheomalacia which became symptomatic only after the corrective surgery. The diagnosis of the aortic arch anomalies should be early suspected in children with undetermined respiratory symptoms and can be easily made basically by esophagoradiogram and tracheoscopy.

The endoscopic and surgical management of portal hypertension in children: analysis of 123 cases.

Since 1973, 178 children with portal hypertension (PH) have been seen at Instituto da Criança of the University of São Paulo Medical School. Fifty-five of these children were excluded from this analysis for various reasons, including no treatment required, death before treatment, or incomplete data. From the remaining 123 children with esophageal varices, only 96 (76.1%) of them had at least one episode of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Eighty-eight children were submitted to injection sclerotherapy; 26 treated prophylactically, and 62 for treatment of previous bleeding. Eleven (42.3%) children from the prophylactic group bled from esophageal varices during the treatment. They were all successfully managed thereafter. Satisfactory results were achieved in 53 (85.4%) children in the therapeutic group. Twenty-eight (45.1%) children had at least one episode of bleeding after beginning of sclerotherapy, 19 of whom eventually had successful control of the variceal bleeding. From 1973 to 1984, distal splenorenal shunt (DSS) was the procedure of choice for the treatment of bleeding esophageal varices. Forty-two children have undergone DSS during this period. Only one child was shunted prophylactically. Since 1985, injection sclerotherapy has been the first choice for the treatment and only seven children with sclerotherapy failure have since been treated by DSS. Characteristically these children had very similar splenoportographic pattern with huge esophageal and gastric varices and deviation of portal vein blood flow toward the left gastric vein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Common bile duct syndrome in children]. / "Síndrome do canal comum" na criança.

Two children bile duct dilatation due to anomalous junction of the pancreato-biliary ductal system are reported. A long common channel comes out of the duodenal wall and, thus, reflux of pancreatic juice into the biliary tree and dilatation of biliary ducts may occur. Clinical findings were upper abdominal pain, vomiting, or jaundice. Diagnosis was accomplished by abdominal ultrasonography and endoscopic or intra-operative colangiography. Both cases were treated by Roux-en-Y hepatico-jejunostomy, the best technique for these cases. Follow-up showed that the patients are well and free of symptoms.