Background: There is no consensus for the management of failed laparoscopic pyeloplasty in pediatric surgical patients, and only limited publications are available. We evaluated here the clinical outcomes of re-intervention for failed laparoscopic transperitoneal pyeloplasty in infants and children.
Materials and methods: Retrospective review of all children who had undergone laparoscopic transperitoneal dismembered Anderson-Hynes pyeloplasty for ureteropelvic junction obstruction from 2002 to 2013 was performed. Patients' demographics, indications, operative details, and outcomes for primary operation as well as re-intervention were studied.
Results: There were 42 patients with a median age of 20 months (range, 3-192 months) and a median body weight of 12 kg (range, 6-56 kg) who underwent a total of 46 laparoscopic transperitoneal pyeloplasties during the study period. The median operative time and blood loss were 193 minutes (range, 115-480 minutes) and trace amount (range, trace amount to 400 mL), respectively. No conversion was reported. Ten cases (22%) required re-intervention. No statistically significant risk factor for failed pyeloplasty was identified. Indications for re-intervention included deterioration of differential renal function (n = 6), progressive hydronephrosis (n = 1), urinary ascites (n = 2), and urosepsis (n = 1). Median time of re-intervention was 6.5 ± 38 months postpyeloplasty. Re-intervention was categorized into the redo pyeloplasty group (n = 6) and the urinary diversion group (n = 4) (insertion of double-J ureteral stent or endopyelotomy) with success rates of 50% and 25%, respectively. Among the redo pyeloplasty group, 3 patients underwent redo laparoscopic pyeloplasty, and all of them had drainage restored with a median improvement in differential renal function of 11%. The mean follow-up duration was 77 ± 38 months.
Conclusions: Laparoscopic transperitoneal pyeloplasty is safe and feasible in children. Redo pyeloplasty is a more favorable re-intervention compared with urinary diversion in our series. Redo laparoscopic pyeloplasty has been shown to improve differential renal function.