ABSTRACT
At the conception of this chapter (November, 2004), 10 clinical studies were identified
from the National Library of Medicine’s Pubmed database comparing outcomes
between LP and OP (Table 12.1) (4-13). These studies reported collectively on 290
patients who underwent LP and 403 patients who underwent OP. For the purpose of mini-
mizing the influence of selection bias on outcome measures, only studies reporting
comparison data between LP and OP were included in this review (studies reporting on
outcomes of LP or OP alone were excluded). Seven of the 10 clinical reports were retro-
spective cohort studies (7-13), two were prospective cohort studies (5,6), and only one
study was a randomized clinical trial (4). Outcomes of interest were those pertaining to
operative time, postoperative recovery (time to full feeds and length of hospital stay), effi-
cacy (rates of conversion for the LP group and rates of inadequate pyloromyotomy for
either group), and safety (perioperative and postoperative complications). There were
no significant differences in baseline demographic or electrolyte parameters between
infants treated with LP and those treated with OP in any of these studies. A formal
meta-analysis was not attempted for any outcome measures owing to the heterogeneous
and predominantly retrospective nature of the studies included in this review.
