Pediatric

Children are not ‘MINIATURE ADULTS,’ especially when it comes to surgical interventions. Pediatric surgery is a specialty that provides holistic care to children with surgical problems, ranging from newborns to adolescents. This specialization is necessary because, unlike adults, children require special care during illness. Their routine is disrupted, and their growth and development are affected. Surgical interventions can have long-term implications unless managed appropriately. Additionally, certain developmental abnormalities, which may be linked to other organ defects, need to be detected, evaluated, and managed even if they do not manifest clinically.

Parents are often apprehensive about their children tolerating surgery, anesthesia, and associated procedures, leading them to delay seeking advice. However, it is reassuring that nowadays, all surgical procedures in children are supported by professionals who are capable of managing pediatric patients, including pediatricians, neonatologists, anesthetists, nutritionists, and physiotherapists.

A child’s growing body is a dynamic system. it reaches its milestones in a systematic or programmed manner. Disease manifestations are often a window into an erroneous program. Defects in this program need to be detected in time and resolved early. With children, it is always better early than sorry.

Pediatric surgeons are skilled in handling delicate surgeries in babies. They are experts in managing the 'child with a surgical problem,' not just the 'surgical problem' in a child. Children requiring pediatric surgical consultation include not only those with obvious external structural defects but also those with internal structural and functional deficiencies. These may affect any organ, from head to toe. Some deficiencies may be detected through antenatal sonography, requiring counseling and planned evaluation after birth to prevent any loss of function or structure in the affected organs. Very few hospitals have full-time pediatric surgical expertise available around the clock, as well as the infrastructure to investigate, manage, and operate on young children.

At P.P. Maniya Hospital, the Department of Pediatric Surgery operates on a full-time basis, providing the following services:

• Reconstructive and reparative pediatric urology
• Neonatal surgeries
• Minimally invasive surgeries (keyhole surgeries) for the abdomen (laparoscopy) and chest (thoracoscopy)
• Endoscopic procedures for the windpipe (bronchoscopy), food pipe (esophagoscopy), and urinary tract (cystoscopy, etc.)

Pediatric Urology

Urological problems in children are common and may manifest as urinary infections, persistent bedwetting, urgency or frequency of urination, dribbling of urine, poor urinary stream, absence of a testis from the scrotum, swelling in the groin, ballooning or non-retractable foreskin, abnormally placed external urinary openings, ambiguous genitalia, etc. These children require special tests to evaluate their urinary tract, such as dye studies of the kidneys and bladder, bladder function studies like urodynamics, and endoscopy. Pediatric surgeons oversee and perform these tests.

• Pyeloplasty for hydronephrosis (enlarged kidney due to blockage)
• Endourological ablation of posterior urethral valves
• Treatment of vesicoureteral reflux (urine refluxing back from the bladder)
• Neurogenic bladder management
• Laparoscopic treatment of undescended testes