[Interventional endoscopy in the gastrointestinal tract in children]

Interventional endoscopic procedures involving the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in children are very common. Over the last several years the number of procedures in this area has steadily increased.

To study indications and results of GI interventional endoscopies performed in a Pediatric GI unit.

Retrospective study over a period of 10 years (1999-2008). Data were collected from endoscopic files. All procedures were performed endoscopically under general anesthesia.

185 interventional endoscopic procedures were done during this period in 96 patients (58 boys) median age: 4.9±4.7 years (1 month-13 years). Indications were as follows: esophageal stenosis (n=46; 47.9%), rectal polyp resection (n=21; 19.8%), esophageal varices ligation (n=19; 19.7%), foreign body extractions (n=8; 8.3%) and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (n=2; 2.1%). One hundred and thirteen esophageal dilations (61.1% of procedures) were performed in 46 patients: caustic stenosis (n=22; 22.9%), peptic stenosis (n=13; 13.5%) and anastomotic stenosis (n=11; 11.4%).

The main indication of interventional GI endoscopy in this series was oesophageal stenosis followed by rectal polyp resection, esophageal varices ligation and foreign body extractions.