Purpose: Pediatric surgery includes a large portion of neonatal patients who are exposed to a high operative risk and mortality. The clinical analyses of pediatric surgical patients, under 15 years of age, were evaluated.
Methods: A total 3,512 patients underwent an operation at the Division of Pediatric Surgery, the Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Hospital, between January 1988 and December 2002. The patients´ medical records were retrospectively reviewed for the clinical findings.
Results: The total number of operations in the pediatric age for all specialties was 22,180 (13.4%). The total number of operations, including those performed on adults, was 164,948. The Under 5 years of age group was the most common to undergo an operation (48.8%). The number of operations at the Division of Pediatric Surgery was 3,512 (15.9%) out of total 22,180 for all the pediatric specialties. 40.7% (1,427/3,512) of the patients under 1 year of age underwent pediatric surgery. The most prevalent diseases in neonates were hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (18.0%) and anorectal malformation (16.4%). Infants older than neonates commonly underwent an operation for an inguinal hernia (34.3%) and intussusception (19.8%). The total mortality rate in the neonatal intensive care unit was 26.1%, with Gastroschisis having the highest mortality.
Concilision: Specially trained pediatric surgeons need both a thorough understanding of the neonatal physiology and surgical skills, because of the high incidence of the neonatal surgery and the high mortality rate.
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