No incidence of port-site recurrence after endosurgical procedure for pediatric malignancies

Port-site recurrence (PSR) following laparoscopic procedures has been an unpredictable complication in adult cancer patients; however, no data exist about this phenomenon in the pediatric field. The aim of this study was to determine whether PSR, following endosurgical procedure for malignancies, is a typical complication or a rare event in the pediatric population. Eighty-one questionnaires were mailed to members of The Japanese Society of Pediatric Endosurgeons. They were asked to provide a list of their institutions that had experience with PSR after endosurgical procedures for pediatric malignancies. Among 29 institutions, a total of 129 endosurgical procedures for pediatric malignancies were reported; these included 85 laparoscopic and 44 thoracoscopic procedures, performed on 104 neuroblastomas, 8 hepatoblastomas, 7 nephroblastomas, and 10 other tumors. Of the 104 neuroblastomas, 83 were found by mass screening using high levels of urinary vanillylmandelic acid and homovanillic acid. Sixty-five of the 83 patients had their tumor excised, and 18 had their tumor biopsied by endosurgical procedures. Additionally, 47 of these patients did not require any postoperative chemotherapy. No incidence of PSR was reported in any of the patients that underwent endosurgical procedures. The PSR following endosurgical procedure is a rare phenomenon in the pediatric population. Both, laparoscopic and thoracoscopic procedures, are safe and recommended for treating pediatric malignancies, especially mass-screened neuroblastomas.