Temporary transgastric fistula occlusion as salvage procedure in neonates with esophageal atresia with wide distal fistula and moderate to severe pneumonia

A method to achieve distal fistula occlusion by inflating the balloon of a catheter placed at the gastroesophageal junction via a transgastric route was tried in seven consecutive neonates with esophageal atresia and wide distal fistula. Due to associated moderate or severe pneumonia, these infants were at poor anesthetic risk for the definitive repair. The procedure was done under local anesthesia with mild sedation and took an average of half an hour for completion. Another feeding tube was negotiated through another gastrotomy across the pylorus to allow early enteral feeds. Temporary transgastric fistula occlusion (TTFO) allowed better ventilation of the hypocompliant lungs (by increasing resistance at the fistulous end), prevented lung injury due to aspiration of the refluxing gastric juices, and facilitated optimal ventilation by preventing epigastric distension. All study subjects survived this procedure except for one of our earlier study subjects who died of massive pneumothorax that was a procedure-related complication. None of the remaining subjects required mechanical ventilation either after TTFO or after the definitive esophageal repair that was carried out 5–7 days subsequent to TTFO, except for one other neonate with right lung aplasia who began deteriorating 48 h after thoracotomy and died of cardiac failure. There were no anastomosis-related problems among the survivors over a 12-month follow-up. The gratifying results of our study prompt us to suggest that this procedure deserves attention, and its role should be explored for salvaging neonates with type C esophageal atresia with wide fistula and pneumonia in developing countries with few neonatal intensive care services.