Original ArticleLong-term health-related quality of life after complex and/or complicated esophageal atresia in adults and children registered in a German patient support group☆
Section snippets
Patients and methods
This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (approval number 1245-2011).
All patients with cEA identified in the data base of the support group KEKS and treated between 10/1964 and 07/2011 were enrolled.
A signed informed consent was obtained from each patient or their guardians for their participation and to request their hospital records from the involved departments of pediatric surgery or general practitioners. Our study collective included patients with (1) delayed
Results
Ninety-two patients were accessible for follow-up. Ninety of these (98%; 63 children, 27 adults) agreed to participate, mean follow-up was 14.5 ± 9.8 years. Primary operations had been performed in 40 institutions. According to surgical treatment, patients were allocated to the subgroups delayed esophageal anastomosis (n = 28), esophageal replacement (n = 27), major surgical revisions (n = 15), and esophageal stenosis after anastomosis requiring > 10 dilatations (n = 20).
Discussion
Esophageal atresia is a heterogeneous entity ranging from uncomplicated short-gap to complex long-gap EA. Irrespective of the gap length, any type of EA may result in a complicated course requiring special interventions. We investigated patients who had undergone reconstruction of complex EA or who had a complicated course after anastomosis. Our definition of a complicated course of EA includes not only long-gap EA mostly resulting in delayed esophageal anastomosis, but also patients undergoing
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Prof. Dr. Karin Lange, Department of Medical Psychology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, for expert advice on selecting adequate questionnaires. Furthermore, we wish to thank all participating units of Pediatric Surgery for supporting this study by providing the requested patient data.
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Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose (financial, professional, or personal).
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Both authors contributed equally to this work and are listed in alphabetical order.