Pediatric Surgery

Pediatric surgery is a young clinical discipline. Although the relative clinical records appeared very early in many countries, it didn’t arise as an independent specialty until the early 20th century in Europe. The professional pediatric surgeons and scholarly monographs emerged in Europe after World War I. Thereafter, pediatric surgery developed rapidly and was separated from surgery as an independent subspecialty, considering the unique pathophysiological and diseases characteristics in children. Children are not considered simply miniature adults with a quite different disease spectrum, treatment principles and methods. Moreover, pediatric surgical nursing care has higher requirements of qualification. For a successful rehabilitation, a qualified pediatric nurse should not only grasp the knowledge and experience of pediatric nurses, but also be familiar with the characteristics of diseases in pediatric surgery so as to be competent to observe the changes of patients’ condition and handle them timely.

The service objects in this department in the past were defined as children from birth to 12 years old, then adjusted to children from birth to 14 years old in 1980s. Considering the continuity of growth and development from childhood to adolescence and certain physiological sharing features, the age limit was increased to 18 years old in the late 20th century with an international consistency. In addition, more subspecialties such as fetal surgery derived from pediatric surgery arose. Therefore, the service objects of pediatric surgery should include the whole population suffering from surgical diseases from fetal stage to youth within 18 years old. The subspecialties of pediatric surgery include: pediatric general surgery, pediatric thoracic surgery, pediatric urological surgery, pediatric orthopedics and neonatal surgery. With the progress in technology and improvement in equipment, the application of minimally invasive surgery became more popular, in which a variety of novel techniques and instruments such as endoscopy (laparoscopy, thoracoscopy, etc.) were widely employed. Under this background, the clinical pediatric surgery has made remarkable progress recently and demonstrated a higher diagnostic ability, better prognosis, and even an earlier timing of treatment. As a result, children and their families enjoy the fruits of scientific and technological innovation.

The dept. has a long history and accumulated a wealth of experience. It serves as specialized clinical training base and one of the most important diagnostic and treatment centers. Since the founding of Children’s Medical Center in 2010, our department has ushered in a “gold period”, in which we have achieved a faster and more comprehensive development. Our center has gathered a large number of specialists in different fields and employed these experienced experts with senior titles as medical team leaders. Our surgeons consist of several well-known experts in pediatric: general surgery, thoracic surgery, urology, orthopedics, in addition to many young fellows with the postgraduate education and formal training. We have established an excellent academic reputation in the following fields: minimally invasive repair for pectus excavatum, correction of chest wall deformity, minimally invasive treatment of renal pelvis and ureteral deformity, hypospadias repair, diagnosis and surgical treatment of diaphragmatic hernia and gastrointestinal malformations, minimally invasive treatment in neonatal surgery, diagnosis and treatment of hemangioma. Many doctors in our department were invited to deliver lectures, perform surgeries or give consultations both domestically and abroad, so that we gain not only the respect and recognition from peers but also praises from patients. Currently, all the senior surgeons with higher seniority have a fixed subspecialty and look forward to supplying a professional and wider range of service to children and their parents.