Paediatric Thoracic Surgery and Thoracoscopy(VATS)

Pediatric thoracic surgery involves the diseases of the chest, whether congenital, such as a birth defect eg, or acquired, such as pneumonia. Specific operations include removal of a lung growth or tumor, or removal of an abnormality that has been present since birth but which could become infected, such as a pulmonary sequestration or a congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation.

Pediatric thoracic surgeons also perform surgery on the esophagus, as needed, for conditions such as tracheo-esophageal fistulas, which describes a communication between the trachea and the esophagus.

These operations may be performed through tiny incisions, depending upon the type of procedure and the size of the patient Thoracoscopy, also called as VATS or Video Assisted Thoracoscopic surgery, is a form of Thoracic surgical procedure where all the chest surgeries are done with the help of a fibre-optic instrument through very small incisions It has replaced many of the former large incision operations. Today, VATS has also evolved in pediatric age group as it is proven to be safer, efficient, technically feasible and well tolerated in infants, young children and teenagers.

A number of thoracoscopic surgeries are performed including-:

• Diagnostic Thoracoscopy
• Thoracoscopic repair of Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Thoracoscopic repair of congenital Tracheo-esophageal repair (TEF)
• Thoracoscopic removal of congenital lung lesions like CCAM, Lung Cysts etc
• Thoracoscopic management of infections lung like Pneumonia, lung abscess, Hydatid cysts etc.
• Thoracoscopic excision of mediastinal tumours and cysts