Learning curve and his consequences in laparoscopic antireflux surgery

: The laparoscopic fundoplication became the gold standard of the laparoscopic antireflux surgery (LARS). Our aim is to indicate the evolution of the learning curve as well as its consequences on the patient's outcome. We studied the gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) cases treated laparoscopically in Colţea University Hospital throughout 6 years. We gathered a group of 40 patients with an average age of 54, 57 years and a sex ratio F:M = 1.67. The patients had either a simple GER disease, small and medium hiatal hernias (21 cases) or giant hiatal hernias (GHH--19 cases). Two equal groups resulted: group 1 consisted of the first 20 patients operated from 1999 to 2002, group 2 consisted of the rest of the patients. Operating time, hospital time, complication rate and postoperatory endoscopy were compared. The average of the operating time was calculated. For giant hiatal hernias, a separate average was also taken into account. The total operating time for GER, small and medium hiatal hernias was 115 min in group 1 and 80 min in group 2 meanwhile for GHH it was 143 min vs. 130 min. The average operatory time was 129 min vs. 105 min. All these differences were statistically significant but there were no differences concerning complication rate and post-operatory endoscopy. Although the learning of the laparoscopic fundoplication requires practice, the learning curve does not have influence on the patients' outcome.