Paediatric and adolescent surgery

Our activities include highly specialised surgical care with emphasis on life-threatening and rare neonatal malformations of the urinary tract, stomach, intestinal tract and some rare tumours. We also perform planned general surgery on children from Södra sjukvårdsregionen (the Swedish southern healthcare region) and emergency general surgery on children from Lund.

Our clinics and departments

The Department of paediatric and adolescent surgery 65 in Lund cares for critically ill infants who are in need of constant monitoring, before and after surgery, in a shared room. The department also cares for other children before and after surgery, as well as performing the necessary observations for children and young people suffering from acute illness. Besides surgery, the department also offers a number of specialised beds for other areas of paediatric care.

At the paediatric surgery clinic, specially trained nurses have their own clinics for gastrostomy care, urotherapy and stoma therapy and certain paediatric cases. It also prepares children for X-ray examinations, where a catheter may need to be inserted or a needle may be required for anaesthesia.

In paediatric medicine, we have access to a paediatric surgical department and paediatric intensive care unit, and we regularly perform surgery using robot-assisted technology. Many minor surgical procedures are performed as day procedures. Patients do not have to stay in hospital in this case and can go home the same day.

Quality register

All children who undergo paediatric surgery are monitored via quality registers on a local, national and/or international level so that we can improve care in both the short and the long term.

Cooperation with other clinics and departments at the hospital
Premature babies with malformations requiring surgery are cared for at the neonatal departments and are managed jointly by neonatologists and paediatric surgeons.

We also provide prenatal advice to obstetricians, participate in interdisciplinary tumour conferences, gastroenterology conferences and urological conferences, and train ST doctors, interns and nurses by means of lectures and practical supervision.

The Centre for paediatric cardiac surgery, one of two centres in Sweden providing highly specialised care for children with congenital heart defects, operates in the same unit as paediatric surgery. This patient group often requires paediatric surgical consultation, and sometimes paediatric surgical procedures. This is why there is a facility performing daily thoracic surgical procedures in the same surgical department as paediatric surgery. and also a paediatric intensive care unit where these children are treated.

Research

Research is conducted close to families and patients at the Department of paediatric and adolescent surgery in Lund. Our research projects are conducted both within the facility in Lund and in national and international groups together with paediatric surgery clinics in Sweden, the Nordic region and Europe.

These research projects are often conducted in partnership with universities such as Lund University, the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) at Lund University and Malmö University.

Research into congenital malformations

We conduct research to help us understand which surgical methods and treatments best help children and young people with congenital malformations. This research relates to both the children’s physical function and quality of life, but also technical developments in diagnostics and surgery.

Current research into congenital malformations:

• Anorectal malformations and anal atresia (anal opening missing or in the wrong place)
• Hirschsprung’s disease (absence of nerves in parts of the intestine)
• Oesophageal atresia (where the oesophagus does not develop properly)
• Gastrointestinal and urinary tract function in children with and without malformations
• Heritability of various congenital malformations
• How young adults perceive their quality of life and sexual health
• Genital malformations in girls and boys
• Laboratory studies to understand the lung in cases of diaphragmatic hernia
• Medical and technological research.

Besides research into congenital malformations, we also conduct research into:

• Robot-assisted surgery on young children
• Surgery and pain relief in newborns and premature babies
• Global health with most partnerships with clinics in developing countries.

We are also conducting research together with the Department of Child and Family Health and Reproductive Health at Lund University in order to reduce the time spent in hospital by children after surgery. This project is providing opportunities for communication in the home via electronic tablets.