Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) is known to be one of the most common cause of surgery for infants and pyloromyotomy was considered to the standard treatment. There has been an ongoing debate about whether laparoscopic pyloromyotomy (LP) or open pyloromyotomy (OP) is the best option for treating HPS. The aim of this study is to evaluate safety and effectiveness of LP by comparing the clinical results of both surgical strategies performed by single surgeon.

Between January 2000 and December 2013, 60 patients who underwent pyloromyotomy at Asan Medical Center performed by a surgeon were followed: open-supraumbilical incision (n=36) and LP (n=24). The parameters included sex, age and body weight at operation. Clinical outcomes included operation time, time to full feeding, postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complications.

There were no significant differences in characteristics, postoperative hospital stay between the two groups. Time to full feeding was shorter in LP (OP 24.5 hours vs. LP 19.8 hours; p=0.063). In contrast, the mean operation time was longer in LP (OP 37.5 minutes vs. LP 43.5 minutes; p=0.072). Complications such as perforation of mucosal layer (OP 1 vs. LP 0) and wound problems (OP 2 vs. LP 0) were found to be not worse in laparoscopic group as compared with open group.

There has no difference both laparoscopic and open-supraumbilical incision in terms of postoperative hospital stay, time to full feeds and frequency of complications.

Gastroschisis and omphalocele are major anterior abdominal wall defects. The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical differences and mortalities of gastroschisis and omphalocele in Asan Medical Center.

A retrospective review of the medical records was conducted of 103 cases of gastroschisis and omphalocele from September 1989 to February 2013 in Asan Medical Center in Korea.

There were 43 cases (41.7%) of gastroschisis and 60 cases (58.3%) of omphalocele. There was a female predominance in both gastroschisis (60.5%) and omphalocele (58.3%). The average gestational age at delivery was 36.7±0.4 weeks for both groups. The mean birth weights were 2,381.9±80.6 g for gastroschisis and 2,779.4±82.8 g for omphalocele (p=0.001). Mean maternal ages in the gastroschisis and omphalocele groups were 27.5±0.7 years and 30.5±0.7 years, respectively (p=0.002). Associated malformations were documented in 13 infants (30.2±) with gastroschisis and 46 infants (76.7±) with omphalocele (p<0.001). All of gastroschisis patients except one underwent surgery including 31 primary repairs and 11 staged repairs. Fifty-two infants with omphalocele underwent surgery-primary repair in 41 infants and staged repair in 11 infants. Among 103 cases, 19 cases (18.4%) expired. Mortality rates of gastroschisis and omphalocele were 23.3% (10/43 cases) and 15.0% (9/60 cases), respectively (p=0.287). The main causes of death were abdominal compartment syndrome (6/10 cases) in gastroschisis, respiratory failure (4/9 cases) and discharge against medical advice (4/9 cases) in omphalocele.

Gastroschisisis was associated with younger maternal age and lower birth weight than omphalocele. Associated malformations were more common in omphalocele. The mortality rates did not make a statistical significance. This might be the improvement of treatment of cardiac anomalies, because no patient died from cardiac dysfunction in our study. Furthermore, abdominal compartment syndrome might be the main cause of death in gastroschisis.

The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the non-invasive diagnostic methods and rectal suction biopsy for the detection of Hirschsprung disease (HD).

We reviewed diagnostic methods and results retrospectively in patients who underwent anorectal manometry, barium enema and rectal suction biopsy for the diagnosis of HD at Asan Medical Center from January 2000 to December 2012.

There were 97 patients (59 neonates and 38 infants) in the study period. The overall accuracy of anorectal manometry for the diagnosis of HD was 71.1% and its sensitivity was 51.4% (48.1% in neonate and 62.5% in infant, respectively) and its overall specificity was 82.3% (81.3% in neonate and 83.3% in infant, respectively). The Overall accuracy of barium enema was 66.0% (72.8% in neonate and 55.3% in infant, respectively) and specificity of barium enema was 53.2% (56.3% in neonate and 50.0% in infant, respectively). These results were lower than those of anorectal manometry. The overall sensitivity of barium enema was 88.6% (92.6% in neonate and 75.0% in infant, respectively) and it was higher than the sensitivity of anorectal manometry. Histological studies confirmed HD in 35 patients, in one of whom the suction biopsy showed negative finding.

Accuracy of non-invasive methods for diagnosis of HD in our study is lower than those in previous study, so we need to improve the quality of diagnostic tools in our hospital. We conclude that the rectal suction biopsy is the most accurate test for diagnosing HD, so the biopsy to confirm the diagnosis of the HD is very important.