I hear this question a lot: Can’t an adult general surgeon, urologist, or a thoracic surgeon operate on children? Do we need you?
We try to correct all surgical discomforts of children from the moment the baby is born until the end of puberty. For this, we are going through a long and difficult training period. We need to be able to think of unimaginable embryological disorders that you cannot remind in adult pathologies. The tumors and diseases we deal with are very different. Even the drug doses we apply are calculated separately, and they can vary according to ages even in childhood. We are also dealing with children who have a long life potential. This potential also affects the decisions we will make. We fight to the end. Without giving up.
We learn to communicate with a small creature that cannot yet speak. We can stitch a 450 grams of premature baby’s skin which is thin as a paper. We can emphasize and talk with young, inexperienced parents who just sent their precious child to operating room. Special education is required to do these. Expecting these from adult surgeons is also unfair to them.
A sentence we always say is “a child is not a smaller adult”.
Pediatric Surgery covers such a wide area … In fact, let me state what we are not doing first. We are not Otorhinolaryngologists, Orthopedists, Heart Surgeons or Neurosurgeons. Except for the interest of these branches, we perform surgeries of all systems in childhood age groups. As a system, we are involved in the surgical treatment needs of chest (Thorax), abdominal region, urinary system and genital area disorders. To give a little more detailed information:
- Genital area surgeries such as circumcision, hypospadias (prophetic circumcision), penile curvature
- Anomalies involving the groin area such as undescended testicles, hernias, hydroceles, varicoceles
- Laparoscopic / open surgery in acute surgical abdominal conditions (appendicitis, Meckel’s diverticulum), intussusception/ intestinal knotting …)
- Surgical treatment of congenital disorders (anal atresia, esophageal atresia, intestinal atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, omphalocele, gastroschisis …)
- Traumas requiring surgery
- Diagnosis and treatment of tumors (Wilm’s, Neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma …)
- Transplantation surgeries
- Endoscopic procedures (bronchoscopy, endoscopy, colonoscopy)
- Minimally invasive procedures (laparoscopy, cystoscopy)
- Diagnosis and treatment of urological problems such as ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) stenosis, Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), ureterovesical junction ( UVJ) stenosis…
- Congenital cysts that can develop in the neck (thyroglossal cysts, branchial cysts, fistula ..)
- Other pediatric surgical procedures
You may have heard some of these names for the first time. In time, I will make detailed explanations on our website in line with your questions. I recommend you to follow our page regularly…