Minimally invasive open pyeloplasty in children: Long-term follow-up

Objective: Our aim was to report the long-term follow-up for minimally invasive open pyeloplasty in children. Material and methods: A total of 213 children with a mean age 16.33 months underwent miniature open pyeloplasty for ureteropelvic junction obstruction between January 2010 and May 2016. Anderson-Hynes dismembered pyeloplasty was performed through a subcostal miniature incision. The intraoperative and postoperative parameters including surgical operative time, incision size, intraoperative blood loss volume, postoperative analgesic use, hospital stay, complications, and success rate were documented. Results: The mean surgery time was 65 min (50-85 min), and incision size was 16.99 mm (12-36 mm). None of the patients required blood transfusion or narcotic analgesics in the postoperative period. The mean hospital stay was 21.97 h (10-48 h). Minor side effects included urinary tract infection (3.8%) and urinary leakage in one case (0.004%). Major complications were not observed. The mean antero-posterior pelvic diameter before and after surgery was 28.69 +/- 11.54 mm and 15.89 +/- 9.29 mm, respectively with a mean difference of 12.78 mm, which shows a significant decrease (P value = 0.001). The success rate was 98.1% with a mean follow-up of 21.43 months (3-56 months). Two of the recurrences occurred in the first postoperative year, another one after 1.5 years, and the last one after 4 years. Conclusion: Our study confirms minimally invasive open pyeloplasty in children as a safe and efficient procedure with the least complication and hospital stay rate in comparison with other minimally invasive techniques. Moreover, long-term follow-up is a requirement in pyeloplasty surgery.