[Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Childhood].

Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Childhood In children with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), conservative and surgical therapy options should be weighed up against each other and an individual solution tailored to the pediatric patient should be found. Decision should be made by an interdisciplinary team with representatives of all treating and caring disciplines together with the patient and his or her caregivers. The possibility of a surgical intervention and (if needed) the optimal time to operate should hereby be discussed with a (pediatric) surgeon at an early stage. Contrary to the possible fears of conservative disciplines, fundoplication for targeted surgical GERD therapy in childhood is usually carried out with few complications and, in well-defined cases, is associated with a positive outcome. The fulfillment of the decisive prerequisites for this is closely linked to the knowledge of the pediatric characteristics with regard to symptoms, diagnosis and therapy, the choice of the optimal surgical technique and a long-term secured follow-up care. The key points of these pediatric features are explained in detail below.