A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE AERODIGESTIVE ENDOSCOPY IN
INFANTS LESS THAN 1-YEAR OLD
Soong W-J, Lee Y-S, Hwang B-T
Pediatric
Department, Taipei Veteran General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University
School of Medicine, Taipei
Objective: To review the authors¡¯ experience with
age less than 1-year old age infants who underwent the flexible
aerodigestive endoscopy over a 5-year period.
Methods: From 1996 January to 2000 December,
416 infants were enrolled in our hospital, a tertiary medical center.
Retrospective reviews and analysis the infants¡¯ data and the endoscopy
results.
Results: The mean body weight at endoscopy was
4.43 ¡À 3.53 Kg, the smallest is 746 g. The
mean age was 5.02 ¡À 2.43 month-old. Most common major
indications for scopy were stridor (37.5%), respiratory distress (13.5%),
snoring (9.4%), cyanosis (7.7%), and lung atelectasis (6.0%).
Laryngomalacia, tracheomalacia, bronchomalacia and intrapulmonary
inflammation were the most common findings in the upper and the lower
airways. Esophageal lesions were detected in 7.2% of infants. Synchronous
lesions at more than one anatomic site were found in 62.7% of
infants. Therapeutic interventions
including scopic aid intubation, stent implantation, and balloon
dilatation.etc. composed 7.5% of scopy. No significant complications
were noted.
Conclusion: Flexible endoscopy can be a valuable
diagnostic and therapeutic tool. A complete upper aerodigestive tract
endoscopic examination is necessary in infants with various respiratory
problems while synchronous
lesions are likely be detected.