Open Versus Transanal Pull-Through for Hirschsprung Disease: A Systematic Review of Long-Term Outcome

Abstract

Introduction?Various surgical techniques for the treatment of Hirschsprung disease (HD) have been proposed. The most relevant long-term complications of HD surgery include constipation, soiling/incontinence, enterocolitis, and anastomotic stricture. To date, there has been no randomized controlled trial evaluating the long-term outcome of OPEN surgery compared with transanal approaches with and without laparoscopy (laparoscopic-assisted transanal-endorectal pull-through [L-TERPT] and transanal-endorectal pull-through [TERPT]). We performed a systematic literature review of the long-term outcome of OPEN surgery compared with L-TERPT/TERPT. Methods?Our systematic review of the recent literature (2008 to 2012) included reports on long-term outcome of either OPEN surgery or L-TERPT/TERPT with a minimum follow-up period of 12 months. With the cumulative data, a comparative meta-analysis was performed for the outcome parameters ?constipation,? ?soiling/incontinence,? ?enterocolitis,? and ?anastomotic stricture.? Results?Functional outcome of surgical techniques for HD was highly variable. We could show a significant advantage of L-TERPT/TERPT over OPEN surgery regarding the incidence of soiling/incontinence and constipation. No differences were seen for enterocolitis and anastomotic stricture. Conclusion?Significant differences in the long-term outcome of OPEN surgery compared with L-TERPT/TERPT were identified in this review. We conclude from our data that L-TERPT/TERPT represents a valid option in the treatment of HD and might have some advantages over the OPEN techniques. However, the present data should be interpreted carefully due to limitations in the quality of the study design in most reports. Prospective, randomized, multicenter trials are urgently needed to overcome this weakness of the current literature.

The importance of recording first passage of meconium in neonates

“…Post pull-through constipation rates can be up to 59% 13 and are thought to be due to abnormal function of the internal anal sphincter and abnormal motility of the pulled-through segment. 14 Parents and GPs should be advised to contact the surgical team if the child does not pass stool for more than three days despite laxatives.…”

Duhamel versus transanal endorectal pull through (TERPT) for the surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s disease

“…There is only limited data available on long-term functional results after Duhamel or TERPT procedures. Systematic reviews by several groups report on research that explores outcomes of the Duhamel and TERPT techniques and predominantly include small, observational studies with limited follow-up length and heterogeneous patient samples [ 13 , 39 , 40 ]. Limitations in the quality of study design make it difficult to interpret results [ 40 ].…”

Beginning experience with the transanal endorectal pull-through operation for the surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s Disease

“…Perineal dermatit, anastomoz darlığı, enterokolit, dışkı kaçırma ve kabızlık gibi çeşitli komplikasyonlardan TERPT'ye özgü olan yalnız dermatit olup bunun da tedavisi, bazen biraz zahmetli olmakla birlikte, sorun kalmayacak şekilde yapılabilmektedir (3,11,12,14,16,21,22,(26)(27)(28)(29) .…”

“…Yöntemin uygulanabilirliği, ameliyat süresi ve komplikasyonları açısından diğer yöntemlerle karşılaştı-rıldığı çok sayıda çalışma vardır (2)(3)(4)(5)(6) . Uzun segment Hh'lı hastalarda, serbestleştirmenin-ameliyatın temel ilkesine görece ters düşmekle birlikte-laparatomi/laparoskopi yardımıyla yapılabilmesi yöntemin daha geniş bir hasta grubunda kullanılmaya başlanmasına yol açmıştır (7)(8)(9)(10)(11) .…”