[Analysis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: size does matter]

To analyze the correlation between pyloric size and evolution of patients surgically treated for infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS).

We realized a retrospective study of 109 patients undergoing IHPS in 5 years. We analyzed by χ2 test if a correlation between evolution time, age and postoperative vomiting and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and pyloric muscle thickness (group A > 4.5 mm and group B ≤ 4.5 mm) and pyloric channel length (group A ≥ 20 mm and group B < 20 mm) exists.

There is a statistically significant correlation between longer evolution history (>48 h) and pyloric length ≥ 20 mm and between age (> 30 days) and muscle thickness > 4.5 mm (p= 0.022 and p= 0.009, respectively). Also, 38.5% of 109 patients had postoperative emesis 2 days after surgery and 13.8% had GERD for a median time of 8.27 months (1-12 months), showing that there is a statistically significant correlation (p= 0.007) between pyloric channel length ≥ 20 mm and postoperative emesis. It was not observed correlation between pyloric thickness and length and GERD.

It has been observed that there is correlation between pyloric length ≥ 20 mm and postoperative emesis. However, it has not been observed regarding the pyloric muscle thickness. A longer preoperative evolution and age > 30 days are correlated to channel length ≥ 20 mm and muscle thickness > 4.5 mm, respectively.