Review
Copyright ©2007 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 7, 2007; 13(33): 4417-4422
Published online Sep 7, 2007. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v13.i33.4417
Is there a changing trend in surgical management of gastroesophageal reflux disease in children?
Mahmud Saedon, Stavros Gourgiotis, Stylianos Germanos
Mahmud Saedon, Department of General Surgery, Leighton Hospital, Cheshire, CW1 4QJ, United Kingdom
Stavros Gourgiotis, Second Surgical Department, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Greece
Stylianos Germanos, Nuffield Department of Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Stavros Gourgiotis, MD, PhD, Second Surgical Department, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, 41 Zakinthinou Street, 15669, Papagou, Athens, Greece. drgourgiotis@yahoo.gr
Telephone: +30-210-6525802 Fax: +30-210-6525802
Received: April 24, 2007
Revised: May 10, 2007
Accepted: May 12, 2007
Published online: September 7, 2007
Abstract

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a pathological process in infants manifesting as poor weight gain, signs of esophagitis, persistent respiratory symptoms and changes in neurobehaviour. It is currently estimated that approximately one in every 350 children will experience severe symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux necessitating surgical treatment. Surgery for GORD is currently one of the common major operations performed in infants and children. Most of the studies found favour laparoscopic approach which has surpassed open antireflux surgery as the gold standard of surgical management for GORD. However, it must be interpreted with caution due to the limitation of the studies, especially the small number of subject included in these studies. This review reports the changing trends in the surgical treatment of GORD in children.

Keywords: Children; Gastroesophageal reflux; Antireflux surgery; Laparoscopic fundoplication