[Laparoscopic hernioplasty in children: evaluating the learning curve]. / Gyermekkori laparoszkópos lágyéksérvmutét: a betanulási idoszak értékelése.

INTRODUCTION: The most common surgical intervention in childhood is inguinal hernioplasty. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the authors was to evaluate the learning curve of PIRS (percutaneous internal ring suturing). METHOD: A prospective observational cohort was studied including patients under the age of 18 years with planned PIRS between 2018 and 2019. Patients with urgent intervention (incarceration) or other surgical procedures performed simultaneously were excluded. The incidence of metachronous hernia, surgical time, number of conversions and complications were analyzed. The postoperative follow-up time was 1-4 weeks. A phone call check-up was performed in 2022. RESULTS: PIRS was performed in 126 patients (57 boys, 69 girls) with an average age of 4.6 years. The average surgical time was 26.5 min, in the case of experts it was reduced to 22.9 min. The surgeries were longer in boys than in girls (30.5 vs. 23 min). Unilateral surgeries were faster than bilateral ones (23.7 vs. 33.6 min). Initially, girls were operated with PIRS, the surgical time decreased. When trainees started to learn the procedure, the surgical time increased, then decreased again. The same trend was observed in boys. 28 metachronous hernias were found. 3 conversions and 3 intraoperative complications were observed. During the postoperative follow-up, 1 recurrence, 4 postoperative complications were observed. The phone call check-up with 92/126 patients revealed 1 more recurrence and 6 chronic complaints. DISCUSSION: PIRS is a good laparoscopic "teaching" procedure during the training, but the open procedure has still place in the treatment. CONCLUSION: PIRS is a safe procedure in childhood and can be easily learned. It is an excellent method in basic laparoscopic training by use of which metachronous hernia can be recognized. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(7): 260-264.

COVID-19-Related Intestinal Ischemia in A 7-Year Old Boy.

Severe abdominal pain and vomiting are common symptoms in children with pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PIMS). Mesenteric lymphadenitis and aseptic peritonitis are predominantly reported in cases where acute surgical abdomen was suspected and laparotomy was performed at the early stage of the pandemic. These reports generally discouraged surgeons to perform exploration in COVID-19-related cases and medical management was prioritized. Only a few COVID-19-specific surgical cases with intestinal ischemia were published. Here, we report another case of COVID-19-related intestinal ischemia complicated with Meckel's diverticulitis in a non-immunocompromised child who clearly required surgical intervention. In our case, the combination of COVID-19-related vasculitis and low blood pressure episodes may have contributed to this severe outcome.

Laparoscopic appendectomy in children Evaluation of the learning curve / Laparoszkópos appendectomia gyermekkorban

Introduction: The advantages of laparoscopic against open appendectomy were observed both in adults and children. Objective: The aim of the authors was to study the learning period when they switched from open to laparoscopic appendectomy. Methods: Retrospective, observational study was performed. Children (0­18 years) between 2016 and 2017 were included, who underwent acute appendectomy. Exclusion criteria were other surgical procedure performed at the same time (Meckel's diverticulum, ovarian pathology), converted laparoscopic procedure and malignancies. Patients were divided to open appendectomy (OA) and laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) groups. Duration of the procedures, length of hospital stay, postoperative complications were reviewed. For statistical analysis Mann­Whitney, Fisher's exact and chi2 tests were used. Results: During the study period, 297 appendectomies were performed (open: 149, laparoscopic: 148). In 2017, reaching the end of the learning curve, laparoscopy was the faster procedure (p = 0.0003). The length of stay was shorter in laparoscopic than in open appendectomy (p<0.0001). There was no difference in the number of postoperative complications between the OA and the LA groups (p = 0.2409). Discussion: Our study supports the international studies in English literature which showed that the results of a laparoscopic operation in childhood after the "learning phase" do not differ, and may be better, than those of an open one. Conclusion: LA is a safe and fast procedure in childhood. Even paediatric surgeons who did previously only open procedures, can switch to the laparoscopic technique following a short learning curve.