Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.

History

Pediatric surgery arose in the middle of the 1879 century[clarification needed] as the surgical care of birth defects required novel techniques and methods, and became more commonly based at children's hospitals. One of the sites of this innovation was the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Beginning in the 1940s under the surgical leadership of C. Everett Koop, newer techniques for endotracheal anesthesia of infants allowed surgical repair of previously untreatable birth defects. By the late 1970s, the infant death rate from several major congenital malformation syndromes had been reduced to near zero.

Specialties

Subspecialties of pediatric surgery itself include: neonatal surgery and fetal surgery.

Other areas of surgery also have pediatric specialties of their own that require further training during the residencies and in a fellowship: pediatric cardiothoracic (surgery on the child's heart and/or lungs, including heart and/or lung transplantation), pediatric nephrological surgery (surgery on the child's kidneys and ureters, including renal, or kidney, transplantation), pediatric neurosurgery (surgery on the child's brain, central nervous system, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves), pediatric urological surgery (surgery on the child's urinary bladder and other structures below the kidney necessary for ejaculation), pediatric emergency surgery, surgery involving fetuses or embryos (overlapping with obstetric/gynecological surgery, neonatology, and maternal-fetal medicine), surgery involving adolescents or young adults, pediatric hepatological (liver) and gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) surgery (including liver and intestinal transplantation in children), pediatric orthopedic surgery (muscle and bone surgery in children), pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery (such as for burns, or for congenital defects like cleft palate not involving the major organs), and pediatric oncological (childhood cancer) surgery.

Conditions

Common pediatric diseases that may require pediatric surgery include:

Pure Pediatric Surgical Eponyms

#EponymCategoryDefinition / Clinical Use
1Kasai ProcedureHepatobiliaryHepatoportoenterostomy for biliary atresia.
2Ramstedt PyloromyotomyNeonatal GIOperation for hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.
3Ladd ProcedureGI / MalrotationCorrection of intestinal malrotation.
4Swenson ProcedureColorectalClassic pull-through for Hirschsprung disease.
5Soave ProcedureColorectalEndorectal pull-through technique.
6Duhamel ProcedureColorectalRetrorectal pull-through.
7Pena PSARPAnorectalPosterior sagittal anorectoplasty for ARM.
8Bishop–Koop ProcedureGIEnterostomy for obstruction.
9Santulli ProcedureGIEnterostomy with distal chimney.
10Heller MyotomyGIAchalasia surgery.
11Billroth IGIGastroduodenostomy.
12Billroth IIGIGastrojejunostomy.
13Whipple ProcedureGIPancreaticoduodenectomy.
14Veau ClassificationCleftCleft palate classification.
15Millard Rotation–AdvancementCleftCleft lip repair.
16Tennison–Randall RepairCleftTriangular flap lip repair.
17Vogt ClassificationNeonatal GIEA/TEF classification.
18Bochdalek HerniaNeonatalPosterolateral congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
19Morgagni HerniaNeonatalAnterior congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
20Shehata TechniqueUrologyTraction-based laparoscopic orchiopexy.
21Fowler–StephensUrologyStaged orchiopexy with vessel ligation.
22Cohen ReimplantationUrologyCross-trigonal ureteral reimplantation.
23Leadbetter–PolitanoUrologyAnti-reflux ureteral reimplantation.
24Duckett ProcedureUrologyTPIF hypospadias repair.
25Koff TaperingUrologyTapering ureteroplasty.
26Hendren ProcedureUrologyComplex ureteral reconstruction.
27Wilms TumorOncologyNephroblastoma.
28Ewing SarcomaOncologyBone/soft tissue tumor.
29Shimada ClassificationOncologyNeuroblastoma histology.
30Brenner TumorOncologyOvarian stromal tumor.
31Meigs SyndromeOncologyOvarian tumor + ascites + hydrothorax.
32Abernethy MalformationVascularCongenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt.
33Klippel–Trénaunay SyndromeVascularCapillary + venous malformations + limb hypertrophy.
34Sturge–Weber SyndromeVascularCapillary malformation + CNS involvement.
35Raveenthiran's syndromeGI, UrologySpigelian hernia containing undescended testis

See Related Syndromes

See also

Associations of Pediatric Surgery