Minimally invasive Heller's myotomy in children: safe and effective

The aim of the study was to review a single institution experience of minimally invasive Heller's myotomy in pediatric patients with achalasia.

An institutional review board-approved retrospective review from 1999 to 2005 identified patients 18 years old and younger who underwent a minimally invasive Heller's myotomy for achalasia.

Twenty-six patients were identified with a mean age of 15 (range, 4-18 years). There were 11 female and 15 male patients. There were 3 intraoperative complications (2 esophageal mucosal injuries and 1 aspiration). There was no mortality. All 26 surgeries were completed laparoscopically. Two patients had Dor fundoplication, whereas 23 patients had Toupet fundoplication. Average length of hospital stay was 2.7 days (range, 1-4 days) excluding the 3 patients with intraoperative complications and 3.5 days for all patients (range, 1-17 days). Postoperative follow-up ranged from 0 to 75 months (mean, 20 months). Postoperatively, one patient developed reflux symptoms (incidence 4%). Seven patients (27%) had recurrence of symptoms at a mean of 13 months (range, 1-66 months) after their operation.

Laparoscopic Heller's myotomy with fundoplication is a safe and effective treatment of symptomatic achalasia in the pediatric population. Complications were low in this group of patients and comparable to other published reports in the literature.