Management of Congenital Tracheosophageal Atrasia and Fistula: A preliminary Bi-Cenre Study in Nigeria.

Background: Esophageal atresia and tracheosophageal fistula are congenital abnormalities of the esophagus. The incidence is about 1 in 2,400 to 4,500.It can occur in association with conditions of the VACTERL group. The diagnosis is confirmed by the failure of a nasogastric tube to get to the stomach. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment. There has been remarkable improvement in the outcome following surgery in developed countries. This cannot be said of low resource and developing countries where significant morbidities and mortalities are recorded. This paper highlights the early postoperative complications seen from two centers in Nigeria. It also raises questions that stimulate further research
Methods: This was a retrospective study done in two tertiary teaching hospitals in Nigeria over a one year period (2012). It was a preliminary work to evaluate the differences in management of neonates with tracheosophageal fistula (TEF) from the two centers over the same period.
Results: Two centres were compared.Centre A managed 4 patients and Center B managed 5 patients.Staged repair was done in centre A and primary repair in Centre B.
Conclusion: The outcome of management using primary repair and staged repair were comparably the same.