Treatment of Congenital Microgastria

Congenital microgastria is an extremely rare birth defect. The aim of this study was to present an overview of existing literature on the treatment of microgastria.

The term "microgastria" was used in a PubMed and Medline search. Since merely case reports were found, only a narrative synthesis with limited statistical analysis can be given. Data of different treatment modalities were collected and divided into two groups: conservative or less invasive treatment (C/LT, i.e., modified diet or a gastrostomy/jejunostomy) and extensive gastric surgery (EGS, i.e., Hunt-Lawrence pouch or total esophageal gastric dissociation). Clinical outcome parameters (nutrition, growth pattern, and mortality) were compared.

Out of 73 articles published from 1973 to 2019, 38 articles describing 51 cases were included. In four patients, microgastria was an isolated anomaly (8%). Type of treatment was described in only 46 patients, 19 were treated by C/LT. Mortality was 9/19 (47%) in the C/LT group versus 4/27 (15%) in the EGS group (chi-square = 5.829, p = 0.016, Fisher = 0.022). There was a negative correlation between the invasiveness of the treatment and both mortality (r = -0.356, p = 0.015) and comorbidity (r = -0.506, p <0.001). Patients in the C/LT group had significantly more comorbidity than in the EGS group (mean = 4.32 vs. 2.26, p = 0.001). There was a positive correlation between comorbidity and mortality (r = 0.400, p = 0.006). Median follow-up was 42 months (range: 1-240). Type and way of nutrition were poorly described. In at least 9 of the 33 surviving patients, oral feeding was reported as normal, of whom 8 belonged to the EGS group. In all patients, growth could be acknowledged, but in comparison to peers, final body length was less. There was no difference in final body length between the two treatment groups.

In patients with congenital microgastria, only minimal differences in clinical outcome in terms of type of nutrition and body growth were found when C/LT was compared with treatment by EGS. Mortality was significantly higher in the first group as well as the amount of comorbidities.