Surgery is the preferred pyloric stenosis treatment. Balloon dilation is not effective as surgery; however, consider only if anesthesia risk is high.
Pyloric stenosis treatment
Very few cases of mild pyloric stenosis can treat medically. Intravenous and oral atropine can use to treat this condition. The success rate is low as compared with surgery, additionally it requires skilled nursing and prolonged hospitalization.
Pyloric dilation
In case moderate to severe pyloric stenosis and the patient risk for general anesthesia is high, then balloon dilation procedure is preferable even though it is not as effective as surgery.
During this procedure, a balloon will pass through the endoscope, placed across the narrowed pyloric sphincter, and inflated. This widens the opening of the pyloric and thus stomach content passes through easily.
Pyloric stenosis surgery
Surgery is the preferred and effective treatment for pyloric stenosis; pyloroplasty is a surgical procedure to widen the pylorus sphincter (opening in the lower part of the stomach). This helps the stomach contents to empty into the small intestine without any blockage.
The patient must initially stabilize by correcting the dehydration and hypochloremic alkalosis with IV fluids. This can accomplish in about 24 to 48 hours. The patient gets general anesthesia before pyloroplasty surgery. The surgeon makes a cut around the belly button or in the upper-right part of the belly. This surgery can also perform by laparoscopic procedure.
This surgery involves cutting some of the thickened pyloric muscle to relieve the narrowing. The cut through the muscle has closed horizontally to keep the pylorus open and allow the stomach content to pass through.
Pyloroplasty surgery usually takes about one to two hours. Generally, patients take two to three days for complete recovery and return to eating a regular diet in a few weeks.
Risks of this surgery procedure are damage to the intestine, hernia, leakage of stomach contents, long-term diarrhea, malnutrition, and tear in the lining of surrounding organs (mucosal perforation).