A 5-year follow-up study of neonates with Hirschsprung’s disease undergoing transanal Soave or Swenson surgery

OBJECTIVE: To investigate different outcomes and long-term efficacy of transanal Soave or Swenson surgery in treatment for neonates with Hirschsprung’s disease (HD). METHODS: In the present study, a total of 29 neonatal patients were included, with 20 patients undergoing the Soave procedure and nine patients undergoing the Swenson procedure. Data collected from the patients included basic demographics, age and weight at the time of operation, pathological typing, type of operation, operative time, blood loss, length of hospital stay, bowel function, and complications. The follow-up lasted for 5 years for all patients via the outpatient clinics or by telephone. Results were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 18.0. RESULTS: The age, weight, and pathological type of patients with different surgical approaches showed no significant difference. The operation time and blood loss of patients who underwent Swenson procedure were significantly lower than those who underwent Soave procedure; P<0.05. However, intraoperative complications showed no significant difference between the two groups; P>0.05. Bowel function (Rintala score) and postoperative complications in the two groups also showed no significant difference when evaluated 3 months after the surgery; P>0.05. Patients were followed-up for a 5-year period at 3 months, 6 months, 2 years, and 5 years after surgery, respectively. Results showed that complications and bowel function recovery during the 5-year follow-up showed no significant difference between the two methods. CONCLUSION: The operation time and blood loss of the transanal Swenson pull-through procedure was lower than transanal Soave method; however the long-term outcomes of the two methods showed no significant difference. These results may give more clinical evidence in this field.