The first decade's experience with laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication in infants and children.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Fundoplication for gastroesophageal reflux disease is a common procedure performed in infants and children. This report describes over a 10-year experience with more than 1000 consecutive laparoscopic Nissen fundoplications.

METHODS: Ages ranged from 5 days to 18 years and weight from 1.2 to 120 kg. The procedures were performed using a 5 trocar technique and with 5- or 3-mm instruments depending on the size of the patient. Of 1050 fundoplications, 1048 were completed successfully through laparoscopy.

RESULTS: Average operative time dropped dramatically from 109 minutes for the first 30 cases compared with 38 minutes for the last 30. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were 0.26% and 4.0%, respectively. Average time to discharge post fundoplication was 1.1 days. The wrap failure rate is 4.0%.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows in a large operative experience for 10 years that laparoscopic fundoplication is safe and effective in the pediatric population. Clinical results are comparable to the traditional open fundoplication but with a significant decrease in morbidity and hospitalization.