Pediatric Laparoscopic Surgery

Abstract

The practice of pediatric laparoscopic surgery approaches patients ranging in size from neonates through infants, toddlers, children, and teenagers, to obese adolescents. Unlike laparoscopic surgery in adults, these size variations in patients are associated with conditions that are rather specific to the age groups: neonatal procedures are most often focused on the management of congenital malformations and pylorus hypertrophy, whereas procedures in infants, toddlers, children, and teenagers deal with a variety of pathological conditions frequently specific to each age group. With the rapid rise in pediatric obesity, laparoscopic surgery in this subgroup of adolescents may include not only the array of bariatric procedures aimed at achieving weight loss, but also procedures to manage common conditions such as appendicitis and gallstones in these patients, thus involving pediatric surgeons who generally do not perform bariatric procedures.