Max Ungruh, Jochen Hubertus, Anke Widenmann, Jost Kaufmann, Heiko Reutter, Reinhard Busse, Miriam Wilms, Ulrike Nimptsch
{"title":"Treatment of Esophageal Atresia in Germany: Analysis of National Hospital Discharge Data From 2016 to 2022.","authors":"Max Ungruh, Jochen Hubertus, Anke Widenmann, Jost Kaufmann, Heiko Reutter, Reinhard Busse, Miriam Wilms, Ulrike Nimptsch","doi":"10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2024.161890","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Esophageal atresia (EA) is a complex malformation. Multidisciplinary management is necessary, with the operative repair being the most challenging step in the treatment algorithm. The complete care structure for children with EA in Germany has not been analyzed yet.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In the observed period 2016-2022, inpatient EA cases were analyzed 1) during the hospital stay of birth, and 2) during the hospital stay of corrective surgery in patients aged up to 365 days, both based on national hospital discharge data. Patients' comorbidities, hospital caseload, treatment characteristics (e.g. surgical approach) and outcome parameters were analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>1) 1190 newborn EA cases were treated in 260 hospitals during the perinatal period. 54% had at least one additional malformation, and 16% had a birthweight below 1500 g. In-hospital mortality was 8.4%. 2) 1475 corrective operations for EA were performed in 111 hospitals with a consistent median annual caseload of 2 (P25-P95 1-8) per hospital. At least one indicator for a complicated perioperative course was documented in 63.7% of cases. The use of bronchoscopy was coded in 50% of cases. Median ventilation time during the entire hospital stay was 176 h (P25-P95: 95-1759 h).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Newborns with EA are complex and early postoperative complications are common. The care structure is decentralized, and there was no trend towards centralization in the observed period. The low documented use of bronchoscopy is noteworthy. Centralization of the highly complex and schedulable corrective surgery for EA is necessary to evaluate outcomes and might improve the quality of care and resource utilization. CATEGORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT AND TYPE OF STUDY: original article, observational cross-sectional study, secondary data analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":16733,"journal":{"name":"Journal of pediatric surgery","volume":" ","pages":"161890"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of pediatric surgery","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2024.161890","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PEDIATRICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Esophageal atresia (EA) is a complex malformation. Multidisciplinary management is necessary, with the operative repair being the most challenging step in the treatment algorithm. The complete care structure for children with EA in Germany has not been analyzed yet.
Methods: In the observed period 2016-2022, inpatient EA cases were analyzed 1) during the hospital stay of birth, and 2) during the hospital stay of corrective surgery in patients aged up to 365 days, both based on national hospital discharge data. Patients' comorbidities, hospital caseload, treatment characteristics (e.g. surgical approach) and outcome parameters were analyzed.
Results: 1) 1190 newborn EA cases were treated in 260 hospitals during the perinatal period. 54% had at least one additional malformation, and 16% had a birthweight below 1500 g. In-hospital mortality was 8.4%. 2) 1475 corrective operations for EA were performed in 111 hospitals with a consistent median annual caseload of 2 (P25-P95 1-8) per hospital. At least one indicator for a complicated perioperative course was documented in 63.7% of cases. The use of bronchoscopy was coded in 50% of cases. Median ventilation time during the entire hospital stay was 176 h (P25-P95: 95-1759 h).
Conclusions: Newborns with EA are complex and early postoperative complications are common. The care structure is decentralized, and there was no trend towards centralization in the observed period. The low documented use of bronchoscopy is noteworthy. Centralization of the highly complex and schedulable corrective surgery for EA is necessary to evaluate outcomes and might improve the quality of care and resource utilization. CATEGORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT AND TYPE OF STUDY: original article, observational cross-sectional study, secondary data analysis.
期刊介绍:
The journal presents original contributions as well as a complete international abstracts section and other special departments to provide the most current source of information and references in pediatric surgery. The journal is based on the need to improve the surgical care of infants and children, not only through advances in physiology, pathology and surgical techniques, but also by attention to the unique emotional and physical needs of the young patient.