Leonardo
Leonardo
Leonardo
Objetive: Pelvicureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction is the main cause of hydronephrosis Cristiane Reis Leonardo
in childhood. Open pyeloplasty has been the gold standard treatment of this condition http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3461-3465
with success rate above 90%. The role of laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) in children is
less well defined and has slowly emerged as an alternative procedure. We report out- Keywords:
comes of our initial experience with LP in 38 children from 2 months of age. Child; Laparoscopy; Kidney
Materials and Methods: From June 2015 to December 2017 38 children aged 2-60 Pelvis
months (mean age 1.7 years) underwent LP for correction of PUJ obstruction. The
Int Braz J Urol. 2020; 46: 253-9
mean pre operative anteroposterior diameter of the renal pelvis (APD) was 43,5mm
_____________________
and all patients had hydronephrosis (APD 21.4-76 mm) and obstructed curve on di-
Submitted for publication:
uretic renogram. Anderson-Hynes pyeloplasty was the performed technique. Results June 10, 2019
are reported. _____________________
Results: Mean operative time was 107 minutes (70-180) with no conversion to open Accepted after revision:
procedure. Pain control was needed mainly in the first 12hs. Mean hospitalization was August 30, 2019
2 days (1-5). There were complications in 5 children not affecting the final outcome. _____________________
Two patients had a re-obstruction requiring a second procedure with good result. The Published as Ahead of Print:
mean follow up was 18 months (13-36). The mean reduction on the postoperative APD October 30, 2019
was 41% - p<0,001 (end APD 5 to 41mm). Overall success rate was 94,7%. All children
had good cosmetic results.
Conclusions: This is a small series limited by short follow up, however its data suggest
that LP has good functional and cosmetic results, not compromising the success of the
open procedure, regardless patient age.
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Figure 1 - Trocars position - lateral decubitus. The mean pre-operative APD was
43.5mm (21.4 to 76mm) on US. Loss of renal
cortex was found in 17 patients (68%).
All patients had an obstructed pattern
on DR and post furosemide T1/2>20min. Of
them, 9 presented split renal function <40% on
the affected side Table-1 shows details of the
procedure.
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IBJU | LAPAROSCOPIC PYELOPLASTY IN CHILDREN
Pelvis approach
Colon mobilization 27 (71%)
Transmesocolon 11 (29%)
Anastomotic thread
Vicryl 5.0 12 (32%)
Vicryl 6.0 (<2 years old) 26 (68%)
Drain
Penrose 4
Suction 33
No one 1
Bladder catheter + Double J 38
Surgical time (min.)
Mean 107 min.
Range 70-180 min.
Conversion to open procedure 0
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ries are available in the literature. Many reference 16) we had spent a mean of 107min., which
centers do not have programs to perform LP in may be near the open procedures time. Previous
young children-less than 2-3 years old (8). Ho- adult experience, same team, routine and focu-
wever, while early series had reported anastomo- sing on simplifying every step certainly play a
tic stenosis in babies (9, 10), subsequent studies role in the operative time.
demonstrated feasibility irrespective of patient DJ stent is inserted by laparoscopic view.
age and weight (6, 7, 11-13). A guide wire is placed through a 3mm aspirating
LP has been thought to be a technically tube in an antegrade fashion, saving the cystos-
challenging procedure in children. In fact it re- copy time. Those who favor cystoscopy inser-
quires suture training and an experienced lapa- tion affirm that retrograde DJ insertion avoids
roscopist (3, 8). There is a learning curve to LP stent dislodgement and related complications
with is far more difficult to pediatric surgeons. (8). However, a study of 15 academic European
Since the beginning of training, pediatric sur- institutions showed that the antegrade fashion
geons have smaller and more delicate structures provided the lowest complication rate compared
to work with, compared to adult surgeons who with retrograde stent insertion (17).
find larger structures in their patients. There- We had one child whose DJ didn’t rea-
fore, limited laparoscopic working space and ch the bladder. Since then, we focus on urine
small ureteral caliber make anastomosis chal- drops reflowing from the stent as it reaches the
lenging. Also, even in reference centers, the bladder. The bladder catheter is inserted at the
number of pediatric cases in general suitable end of the procedure or otherwise kept closed in
for laparoscopic procedures in the same pe- the bladder until there.
riod of time is lower to pediatric urology when Surgical site drainage may be a matter
compared to the adult urology, slowing the le- of discussion since the postoperative leakage is
arning curve further. Despite this, virtual labs usually little. Perinephric drain offers the ad-
and multidisciplinary practice may be useful to vantage of warning about complications. Pos-
speed the learning curve. toperative ileus is described by series where
In our institution after having establi- drains are avoided (3, 6). We started using a
shed a per and postoperative protocol, all pa- Penrose drain, but moved on to suction drain.
tients were operated by the same team (2 sur- Although we had a small omental prolapse, it
geons CRL and RSQS). Therefore, the surgical wasn’t necessary any surgical procedure to deal
steps were redrawn as needed. with. Adequate size Blake® drains may reduce
Robotic surgery certainly will add tech- the reported risk (8).
nical facilities in pyeloplasty (14, 15). However, Our children had oral intake soon after
the need of larger incisions for larger port pla- anesthetic recovery with very good tolerance. Af-
cement and no availability of 3mm instruments ter local bupivacaine injection at the end of the
makes its role in younger children questionable procedure, pain control was on patient and parents
at moment. demand. It was used in mean during the first 12hs
Concerning technical details, we use which is a short time when compared with open
three ports. The third port helps on exposure. procedures. No opioids were necessary. Two pa-
Not placing the telescope into umbilical scar tients didn’t require any postoperative analgesia.
brings all the instruments near the target PUJ. Hospitalization was in average 2 days.
This may avoid organs injuries in small spaces Although a subjective data, patients were no-
as reported even by expert laparoscopists (3, 6). ticed to be with more mobility when compa-
While operating on babies it is impor- red to our experience in open procedures. In a
tant a full integration of the anesthetic team to comparative prospective study of open versus
laparoscopic procedures at younger ages. laparoscopic pyeloplasty in children, Piaggio
Although most series report longer ope- et al. observed fewer narcotic need and shorter
rative time in LP, (mean 155-240min) (3, 8, 11, hospitalization for LP as others (16, 18).
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Our study showed very good functional This study demonstrated functional results
results in 33 children with significant reduction as reported to open surgery and benefits of a mi-
of the hydronephrosis - mean reduction on the nimally invasive procedure as described by other
postoperative APD was 41.8% (preoperative APD- series in literature (12, 13 17, 22, 27, 28).
21 to 76mm and final APD-5 to 41mm) p<0.001.
We don’t regularly trim the renal pelvis and the CONCLUSIONS
APD reduction found is associated with success
rate according to the literature (19). Our study is limited by short follow-up
Four patients underwent DR as they had and small number of patients, however its data
maintained postoperative hydronephrosis. Des- suggests that LP has acceptable percentage of
pite persistent dilatation, all of them showed complications, good functional and cosmetic re-
a good washout curve on DTPA with no obs- sults, not compromising the success of the open
tructed pattern, ensuring a good result after LP. procedure, regardless patient age.
Two children needed reoperation due to worse-
ning hydronephrosis post operatively. One pa-
tient had abnormal chromosomes and disrupted CONFLICT OF INTEREST
anatomy with intra-‐renal pelvis and anoma-
lous vessels to the kidney. The fail was due to None declared.
the fact that the pelvic-ureteric anastomosis
had been performed above the first anomalous
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19. Rickard M, Braga LH, Oliveria JP, Romao R, Demaria J, _______________________
Lorenzo AJ. Percent improvement in renal pelvis antero- Correspondence address:
posterior diameter (PI-APD): Prospective validation and Cristiane Reis Leonardo, MD
further exploration of cut-off values that predict success Rua Américo Werneck / 195, Mangabeiras
afterpediatric pyeloplasty supporting safe monitoring Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, 30210-370
with ultrasound alone. J Pediatr Urol. 2016;12:228.e1-6. E-mail: cris.leonardo@gmail.com
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