Our Services

Minimally Invasive Surgery

Leaders in minimally invasive surgery and research

Minimally invasive surgery is an innovative method of surgery that allows for smaller incisions with minimal access. Smaller incisions mean less pain, shorter hospital stays, less scarring and faster healing. The pediatric surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC are leaders in minimally invasive surgery and research. The result? Our young patients have better outcomes.

Less scarring, less pain, quicker recovery

Many surgical procedures today can be performed using smaller incisions or through minimally invasive surgery. The benefits include less scarring, both outside and inside the body, much less pain, and children are able to go home sooner.

The most common minimally invasive surgeries performed at Children’s Hospital are thoracoscopies and laparoscopies. In the past, surgeries and procedures performed using thoracoscopes and laparoscopes used an open approach with large incisions. Today they are performed with much smaller incisions just a few inches or smaller in size.

Pediatric expertise

At Children’s Hospital, six of our 13 operating suites are equipped with leading-edge, state-of-the-art minimally invasive technology and equipment. Our surgeons are highly experienced at performing minimally invasive pediatric surgeries. For instance:

Nearly every neonatal, abdominal or chest operation performed at Children’s is done using a minimally invasive approach. Very few centers in the country can claim this forward-thinking approach.
Today, 97 percent of the appendectomies performed at Children’s are minimally invasive — that’s nearly 300 a year. Children’s is one of the only hospitals in western Pennsylvania performing laparoscopic pediatric appendectomies, in addition to many other abdominal and thoracic surgeries in infants and children, using minimally invasive techniques.
Hernias are being diagnosed laparoscopically, and almost 1,000 hernia operations are performed using minimally invasive techniques every year.
A common disorder in babies, called hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, is treated with tiny incisions as small as 3 millimeters.

Pediatric minimally invasive surgery is available at Children’s main campus in Lawrenceville. Some laparoscopic procedures are available at Children’s North.

Schedule a Consultation

To schedule an appointment or consultation with a pediatric surgeon at a location nearest you to discuss minimally invasive surgery for your child, please call 412-692-7280 and press option 2, then option 1.

Last Update
October 4, 2010

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