Minimally Invasive Methods Revolutionize Pediatric Surgery
“Your child needs surgery.” They are words no parent wants to hear.
If your child’s pediatrician has uttered these words, you may have felt anxious and worried: Will my child be safe? Are there risks involved? How can I make sure my little one receives optimal care?
At University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, physicians are finding ways to make surgery safer and less invasive with fewer complications and shorter recovery times.
Minimally invasive surgery has revolutionized the way surgical procedures are being performed. 
“Using a small camera, called a laparoscope, we can journey into the body through very small incisions. The laparoscope projects images onto a computer monitor in high definition, allowing us to get a full view of the internal organs,” says
Todd Ponsky, MD, board certified pediatric surgeon at Rainbow. Surgeons then perform the procedure, using tiny instruments, through those small incisions.
“This method results in less trauma, less pain and fewer wound complications, and it allows children to return to school more quickly than if a traditional surgical procedure were performed,” he adds.
Is My Child a Candidate? Not every child is a candidate for minimally invasive surgery. And not every surgical procedure can be performed effectively using these methods.
When discussing surgical options with your child’s physician, ask if minimally invasive surgery is available and whether your child would benefit from this type of procedure.
At Rainbow, minimally invasive surgery is offered for certain types of orthopaedic, neurological and otolaryngologic (ear, nose and throat) disorders. Procedures are also performed for children with the following conditions:
Hernias
Gastroesophageal reflux diseases
Gallbladder or spleen disease
Lung, chest or abdominal masses
Crohn’s disease
Ulcerative colitis
Pectus excavatum (concave chest)
Imperforate anus
Hirschsprung’s disease
Pyloric stenosis
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
Duodenal atresia (malformed small bowel)
Esophageal atresia (malformed esophagus)
If your child is not a candidate for minimally invasive surgery, rest assured that “open” surgical procedures —
those in which incisions may be several inches in length — are still considered the medical standard of care.
Surgeons at Rainbow use the industry’s most up-to-date surgical equipment to limit a child’s pain during and after surgery and make sure that children are back at home, and in the classroom, as soon as possible.
Center for Minimally Invasive Therapy
Rainbow has made it the hospital’s mission to find safer, less invasive ways of performing surgery on children. And to prove it, Rainbow has partnered with the Cleveland Foundation to create the Center for Minimally Invasive Pediatric Surgery.
The center will focus on the continued development of a nationally recognized center of excellence
in pediatric minimally invasive surgery and deliver the highest quality surgical therapy to the pediatric patient. This involves investment in the recruitment of the nation’s top surgical talent and the latest, most cutting-edge technology.
Researchers, doctors and surgeons will collaborate to develop new, less invasive (and less risky) therapies and treatments for children.
The Center for Minimally Invasive Pediatric Surgery will continue its commitment to teaching and training other U.S. and international surgeons in the newest, less invasive techniques by hosting regular courses in minimally invasive pediatric surgery.
“We’re learning that surgery may not always be the only answer,” says Dr. Ponsky. “There are different modalities — such as drug therapy, radiation and other therapeutic treatments that may be just as efficacious as surgery, but less traumatic for a child.”
One focus of study at the center will be the application of “incisionless” surgery called natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery or NOTES, in which abdominal and intestinal procedures may be performed through a flexible endoscope that enters the body through the oral cavity.
Other research will be focused on minimally invasive neonatal procedures to help the littlest patients.