The main congenital disorders of the esophagus requiring surgery consist of esophageal atresia and esophageal stenosis. Of these disorders, esophageal atresia is most common and one of the important diseases in the neonatal surgical field. Esophageal atresia and its similar disorders require surgery in the early neonatal period. On the other hand, esophageal stenosis which demonstrated a delayed initial symptom after the weaning period, usually underwent surgery after one year of life.
During the last twenty years, surgical managements in the neonatal patients have made a rapid progress in Japan and surgical results have now been comparable to those from the advanced countries in the world.
In recent years, therefore, surgical results of esophageal atresia have been improved except in high risk patients with severe anomalies, severe pulmonary complication and extreme prematurity.
In this paper, the author commented on the present states of surgical treatment of esophageal atresia including its similar disorders such as isolated tracheoesophageal fistula and laryngotracheoesophageal cleft.
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