Pediatric Surgery Patient Care
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Top-rated Care

From minimally invasive surgery to pediatric surgical oncology, our pediatric surgeons bring internationally recognized skill to each patient.

About Us

We see more than 4,500 patients a year in our clinics, providing us with the broad experience to treat even the most complex cases.

One of the great strengths of our clinical practice is our collaboration across disciplines. At Pediatric Surgery, our care teams include pediatric surgeons, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, social workers, and collaborative physicians from other pediatric specialties— a global approach that centers around all of the needs of children and their families from diagnosis to treatment to lifelong growth and development.

Our patients benefit from the expertise of providers in anesthesiology, oncology, radiology, pathology, and nursing, among others. We believe that the best way to solve problems is to bring together a multidisciplinary group of well-rounded individuals with various viewpoints, approaches and ideas to find the optimal solution.

Specializing in Compassion

We excel at the full range of pediatric surgical specialties at U-M Health, and whether the case is routine or rare, we treat each patient using the dedicated resources and family-centered approach of our nationally ranked team of providers at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Beyond achieving excellent outcomes in multiple pediatric specialties, we build our practice around patient- and family-centered care. We educate and empower families to make informed decisions, support them through the entire journey, and provide unique and holistic programs including art and music therapy, therapeutic gaming, therapy animals, schooling support and spiritual care.

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Patient & Visitor Guide

View the Patient & Visitor Guide for more information on our services.

Clinical Strengths

We provide the latest approaches to treating deformities of the chest wall, including pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum, using 3D imaging to provide a superior view of what the chest will look like after surgery.

Chest Wall Deformities

This multidisciplinary clinical team specializes in the treatment of children with short bowel syndrome and intestinal failure. Our research strength in this domain makes us one of the leading experts in intestinal disease in the country, and allows us to translate what we learn to develop new and better treatments for patients.

Children’s Intestinal Rehabilitation Program

Children with colorectal disorders require a dedicated team with specialized experience, and ours is one of the best in the country. We provide advanced diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of disorders like imperforate anus and Hirschsprung’s disease using advanced methods including MRI-guided surgery and minimally invasive surgery. Our focus is on securing the best quality of life for our patients, from childhood into adulthood.

Colorectal Program

Disorders or differences of sexual development (DSD) refers to a variety of conditions, from differences in chromosomes to hormones to anatomy. Our team of providers specializes in diagnosing DSD and supporting each family and child in choosing care that supports their long-term physical, social and emotional needs.

Disorders Or Differences Of Sex Development

Since pioneering the use of this advanced life-support technology, we’ve treated more than 2,000 patients using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Our ECMO expertise makes us a statewide resource for this technology, and allows us to minimize risks when deploying this therapy for patients undergoing a wide range of procedures.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Through our unique cross-disciplinary clinic, experts in pediatric surgery, pediatric endocrinology, radiology, and nuclear medicine provide coordinated treatment for pediatric endocrine disorders such as adrenal tumors, thyroid cancer, and multiple endocrine neoplasm syndromes.

Endocrine Surgery

Mothers and newborns with complex health conditions will find support and expert treatment at our Fetal Diagnosis & Treatment Center. We specialize in prenatal diagnosis, prenatal counseling, maternal-fetal intervention, and pregnancy management. We also focus on delivering the latest in minimally invasive interventions.

Fetal Diagnosis & Treatment Center

We develop and deploy the latest technologies in surgical treatment, including MRI-guided biopsy and anoplasty and ultrasound-guided placement of lines and catheters. By improving the precision of our tools, we can improve outcomes for patients. We’re one of only a handful of centers in the world providing MRI-guided repair for imperforate anus and anorectal malformation. By employing advanced radiology tools in pediatric surgery, we’re able to be more precise, safer, and more successful in performing operations.

Image-Guided Surgery/Interventional Radiology

With sophisticated instruments and a drive to continue improving the patient experience, we offer one of the nation’s most advanced minimally invasive surgery programs for children. Minimally invasive surgical techniques reduce surgical trauma, pain, and recovery times for patients, so we find ways to develop these techniques not only for routine procedures but also for more advanced operations that previously would have been performed as open surgeries.

Minimally Invasive Surgery

Michigan surgeons have a long history of excellence in pediatric thoracic surgery, dating to the first successful esophageal atresia repair in 1941. Today, we continue that legacy with advanced treatment for esophageal diseases including tracheoesophageal fistula, achalasia, and hiatal hernia. We specialize in minimally invasive techniques and primary repair of the esophagus.

Pediatric Esophageal Diseases

Through our Level 1 Trauma Center, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, we provide care to the most seriously injured patients, from pre-hospital treatment through rehabilitation. Mott is also one of only 2 children’s hospitals in the state verified by the American Burn Association to provide pediatric burn care. Through community engagement and education programs, we also seek to reduce the number of injuries among children as part of our Injury Prevention Program.

Pediatric Trauma Program & Injury Prevention

Our Pediatric Weight Management Clinic designs a personalized plan for each patient, combining behavioral change strategies with nutritional counseling and overall evaluation of health and wellness.

Pediatric Weight Management

This program is one of the largest of its kind in the country, treating rare and complex childhood cancers, including neuroblastoma, Wilms’ tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, hepatoblastoma, Ewing's sarcoma, melanoma, and germ cell tumors. Our research expertise in childhood solid tumors provides us with special insight into their development and options for treatment, and our large research network gives patients access to clinical trials for new and novel approaches.

Solid Tumor Oncology Program

The Pediatric Surgical Critical Care Program at Mott Hospital is one of the nation’s only surgical critical care services provided for pediatric patients by surgeons. Our multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, dieticians, social workers, and respiratory therapists conducts daily rounds together to consult with families and establish a detailed plan of care. We treat serious pediatric conditions including necrotizing enterocolitis, a common cause of emergency abdominal surgery in young children, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia, whose patients often require extracorporeal life-support treatment, a specialty at U-M.

Surgical Critical Care

We treat a high volume of vascular anomalies each year at Michigan, resulting in a rare level of expertise among our specialists. We offer advanced therapies for conditions including complex hemangiomas, infantile hemangiomas, congenital hemangiomas, capillary malformations and venous malformations.

Vascular Anomalies

Research

U-M Medical School Section of Pediatric Surgery is one of the largest and most accomplished pediatric research programs in the country. Innovation, a drive to disrupt and improve the status quo, and inspiration to seek novel life-saving treatments or approaches to care lie at the heart of what we do and what we hope to discover.

We invented extracorporeal life support (ECMO), a treatment for children suffering from cardiac and respiratory failure, and today we manage one of the most established and sophisticated ECMO programs in the world.

Our commitment to research means we can also offer our patients access to the latest clinical trials evaluating new treatments.

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