Minimal Access Surgery in Children (this means doing most of the operations by keyhole surgery
without making big cuts on the child's body; for more details see below)
Services
- General Pediatric Surgery
- Pediatric Urology
- Neonatal Surgery
- Pediatric Thoracic Surgery
- Special Services
These services are considered specialized since they require special training, special skills &
special interest to give good results in these cases. Dr Sekharam is the referral center from
across the country for many complex operations in children. A few such examples are
- Hypospadias repair & Epispadias repair (complex reconstructive operations on the
genitalia)
- Laparoscopic surgery of Undescended testis
- Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty (an operation to relieve kidney obstruction). Dr Sekharam has the
country's largest number of Lap Pyeloplasties in children & possibly the world's largest
number of these operations in infants.
- Cystoscopic Injection of Deflux for correction of Vesicoureteric reflux (VUR)
Minimal Access Surgery (MAS) in Children
Traditionally, Surgery involved making large cuts over the abdomen or chest to enter into these
cavities & operate on the internal organs. Obviously, this type of surgery was associated with a
lot of pain & discomfort to the child. The wounds took a long time to heal during which period
the child could not move or play. Finally, the large, ugly scars resulted in psychologic issus&
poor body image for the child.
Minimal Access Surgery (MAS, otherwise called 'Keyhole surgery') has revolutionalized both adult
&pediatric surgery in the new millennium. Here, the same operations are performed by inserting
small (3 to 5 millimeter size) instruments into body cavities either thru natural body orifices
or thru tiny holes made on the chest or abdomen. A small but powerful telescope shows a
magnified view of the internal organs (10-15 times magnified) projected on to a screen. The
operation is carried out by small, delicate, special instruments. The advantages of MAS are
- Magnified view during surgery, hence more accurate surgery (especially in babies & children
where the organs are very small)
- Minimal postoperative pain only
- Early recovery, early feeding
- Early return to full activity & early discharge
- The most minimal scar
- Greatly reduced chance of wound complications (like infection & wound breakdown which are
common in open surgery)
- Less of post-operative adhesions
- Less long-term psychologic issues associated with scar
- Laparoscopic operations in children (General Pediatric Surgery)
- Appendicectomy (including complicated appendicitis)
- Herniotomy
- Orchiopexy for nonpalpable undescended testis
- Laparoscopic intussusception reduction
- Pyloromyotomy for IHPS
- Fundoplication
- Heller-Dor operation for Achalasia
- Laparoscopic Ladd’s procedure for malrotation
- Choledochal cyst excision & reconstruction
- Laparoscopic Cystogastrostomy for pancreatic Pseudocyst
- Meckel’s diverticulectomy
- Ovarian cystectomy (including neonates)
- Diagnostic procedures and biopsies
- Laparoscopic assisted Pull-Thru operations for Hirschprung's Disease &Anoractal
Malformations
- Cholecystectomy
- Splenectomy
- Laparoscopic Operations in Pediatric Urology
- Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty (We have done over 140 lap pyeloplasties in infants & children as
young as 1 month & 3Kg wt)
- Laparoscopic Nephrectomy/Nephroureterectomy (to remove a nonfunctioning kidney)
- Laparoscopic Ureteric Reimplantation
- Laparoscopic Pyelolithotomy (removal of kidney stones)
