More Laparoscopic Surgery Urged for Children

Duncan Phillips, a pediatric surgeon at the North Carolina Children's Hospital (Chapel Hill, USA).

Laparoscopic procedures are performed on children of all ages at the Children's Hospital. Pediatric surgeons there are using laparoscopy for a number of different abdominal procedures, including spleen removal, gallbladder removal, and surgery to prevent acid reflux disease. The most common procedure, however, is appendectomy. A laparoscopic appendectomy requires just three small punctures, each about 4 mm in diameter, and the appendix is removed through the navel.

Most hospitals, however, don't have the expensive equipment needed for pediatric laparoscopic surgery, and most surgeons have not had specialized training in pediatric laparoscopy. "It takes quite an investment of time to learn these techniques and develop the skills,” said Dr. Phillips, who has performed laparascopic procedures on infants less than a day old. "Then a surgeon has to do a number of these procedures to really become good at them.”