Early experience in laparoscopic colectomy for refractory colitis in children.

There is limited literature endorsing the laparoscopic approach for the treatment of refractory colitis in children. We report our experiences of paediatric laparoscopic colectomies performed for ulcerative colitis. A retrospective review over a three year period was undertaken. Operative time, length of stay, post-operative analgesia, time to commencement of diet, and complications were recorded. Nine laparoscopic colectomies were performed. Median operative time was 320 minutes (range--240-475). Mean time to commencement of full diet was 3.9 days (range 2-8). Median length of stay was 6 days (range--5-16). In our experience, laparoscopic colectomy in children is a feasible and superior method to open colectomy and in our opinion, facilitates further restorative procedures and will become the default method of treatment in the near future.