Video-assisted gastrostomy in infants less than 1 year

The objectives of this study were to report our experience with the laparoscopic video-assisted gastrostomy technique in infants operated during their first year of life. A total of 53 infants (35 males, 18 females) aged 6 +/- 3 months, varying from 3 weeks to 11 months, underwent video-assisted gastrostomy. They were prospectively followed up. Included are infants with neurological dysfunction, chromosomal anomalies, metabolic disorders, cardiac anomalies or respiratory insufficiency. All the infants were operated under general and local anaesthesia. Gastrostomy tube feeding began within 4 h after the operation. The infants were followed with a scheduled control at 1 and 6 months postoperatively documenting complications and weight gain. The main outcome measure was the number and type of complications as well as weight gain using the age-adjusted Z-score of weight to normalize the data relative to a reference population. The weight before and 6 months after the video-assisted gastrostomy was 5.5 +/- 1.6 and 8.5 +/- 1.6 kg, respectively. The Z-score increased significantly (P < 0.001) from -2.7+/-1.5 to -1.7 +/- 1.0. This illustrates the postoperative weight gain and catch-up. Short and long-term complications included minor local wound infection, leakage around the gastrostomy tube and granuloma, but no severe complications. Our results encourage the use of video-assisted gastrostomy as a safe technique to provide a route for long-term nutritional support even in infants less than 1 year.