[Surgical indications in cardial insufficiency in infants]

Indications for fundoplication in 70 infants with cardiac sphincter insufficiency are analysed and subdivided into absolute and relative indications in accordance with complications conditioned by reflux. Endoscopy has proved to be the most important diagnostic method for deciding whether antireflux surgery is necessary. It enables proof or exclusion of oesophagitis as the most frequent and most severe consequence of reflux. Functional tests, such as manometry and long-term measurement of pH, are important especially in cases where severity and pattern of the disease have not been clarified. Such tests enable assessment of the function of the cardia and tubular oesophagus, and hence the hazards to which the oesophagus is exposed by the reflux of the gastrointestinal contents. Hence, they represent a contribution to a reduction of the incidence rate of surgery to the absolute minimum which is a "must" at this age, without exposing the young patient to the risk of a serious complication.