Safety of Veress needle for laparoscopic entry in children: Myth or reality?

Introduction: Recent reports suggested that blind laparoscopic entry techniques, including Veress needle (VN), might increase the risks of potentially fatal complications. Materials and methods: All consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopy in two Pediatric Hospitals with the use of a Veress needle during a 14-year period have been included. In all cases the first trocar was a radially expanding one (STEP). Complications related to the insertion technique are reported as well as those related to the whole laparoscopic technique. Results: A total of 3463 patients younger than 18 years of age underwent laparoscopy between January 2006 and December 2019. Of these, 205 (5.9%) were younger than 6 months of age at surgery. Two-hundred-eighty-four patients (8.2%) previously underwent abdominal surgery. During first trocar insertion no major or minor vascular injuries occurred. Two patients (0.06%) experienced bowel lesions. Nine (0.26%) experienced failed entry. Fourteen patients (0.4%) experienced postoperative issues related to trocars positioning, namely, 9 omental eviscerations through port site insertion and 5 cases of hemoperitoneum owing to epigastric vessels lesion during operative trocar positioning. No other issues strictly related to laparoscopic entry technique have been recorded during the study period. No specific risk factors predisposing to complications have been identified but the presence of a positive history of previous abdominal procedures proved to be significantly related to a higher occurrence of bowel injury during Veress needle insertion (p = 0.0067). Discussion and conclusions: Although with a number of biases and limitations, our study suggests that creation of pneumoperitoneum with VN combined to first trocar entry with STEP technology in children can represent a safe alternative. An exception is represented by patients who underwent previous abdominal surgeries who should be approached with caution, possibly with an open approach. Anyway, given the relatively poor quality of high-quality studies on this regard, we strongly support the implementation of well-designed RCT in children in order to answer this delicate topic. Type of study: Retrospective. Level of evidence: IV