The Importance of Pediatric Surgery

Pediatric surgery entered the field of practice as a separate branch of science in the developed countries of the world in the 1940s. In our country, it was established in the 1960s and has developed every day since then, reaching its current level. Today, there are pediatric surgery centers providing world-class service in various regions of our country. In these centers, all surgical diseases of children, including newborns, are treated. The field of interest of pediatric surgery is too broad to be compared to other surgical branches. An important feature of pediatric surgery patients is that children theoretically have a longer life ahead of them than adults. For this reason, a careless approach at any stage of the treatment process can lead to the child being disabled for the rest of his life.

In practice, the responsibility for the child’s surgical diseases does not lie solely on the pediatric surgeon. In this regard, it is seen that a chain of truths or mistakes starting from the general practitioner, family doctor, pediatrician assistant or specialist who first sees the child affects the prognosis of the disease more than the surgery.

Approximately 10-15% of patients applying to pediatric outpatient clinics have surgical problems. Although there is such a high rate of surgical problems in childhood, even pediatricians trained in the same center may have different approaches to these patients. For this reason, I believe that it would be beneficial to explain common surgical problems as clearly and as non-controversial as possible.

Pediatric surgeons deal with surgical diseases of the respiratory, digestive and urogenital systems of children from birth until the age of 18. They also specialize in laparoscopic surgery, oncological surgery, fetal surgery and surgery of congenital anomalies.

“Every child is valuable, especially if this child is your child, there is nothing more valuable than him.”