Nationally Recognized Expertise for Newborn Surgery

Newborn surgery is a very specialized form of clinical care. Discovering your newborn needs surgery soon after he or she is born can be overwhelming.

Thanks to highly specialized pediatric neonatal surgeons and state-of-the-art equipment designed just for newborns, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is expertly staffed and fully equipped to handle any type of newborn surgery. Our pediatric surgical expertise provides the specialized care your newborn may need, including the following conditions:

Surgical Specialization for Bones, Joints and Muscles

• Hip dysplasia: Newborn Infant hip dysplasia occurs when the top of the thighbone does not fit securely into the hip socket.

Brain and Spine Surgical Expertise

• Hydrocephalus: With hydrocephalus, there’s a buildup of excess fluid in the brain at birth, which can increase pressure in the baby’s brain.

Chest and Abdomen Surgical Specialization

• Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome: A growth disorder that can affect several parts of the body.
• Biliary atresia: A condition in which the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are scarred and blocked.
• Chest wall deformity: An inward or outward deformity of the chest wall, called funnel breast or pigeon breast, this congenital condition can also cause issues with chest organ function, especially breathing issues.
• Choledochal cysts: These are cysts that occur in the bile ducts.
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia: A condition in which part of the bowel bulges through an opening in the diaphragm, a muscle that separates the heart and lungs from the stomach.
• Congenital lung masses such as CCAM, CLE and pulmonary sequestration: These refer to a broad range of developmental lung abnormalities in which part or all of the lung is replaced by a non-working piece of abnormal lung tissue, making it difficult for the baby to breathe.
• Duodenal atresia: A condition marked by the absence or complete closure within the first part of the small intestine.
• Esophageal atresia: A congenital defect, esophageal atresia occurs when the esophagus doesn’t form well and there is a disconnect between the upper esophagus and the lower esophagus, leading to the stomach.
• Gastroschisis: Babies with gastroschisis have a hole in the wall of the stomach through which the intestines or other organs protrude.
• Hirschsprung’s disease: A condition that prevents newborns from passing stools.
• Imperforate anus: A birth defect affecting the rectum and anus.
• Intestinal duplications: Mass lesions that can occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal(GI) tract.
• Jejunal and ileal atresia: A narrowing or absence of part of the intestine.
• Malrotation: This condition occurs when the baby’s intestines (or bowel) don’t align properly and can twist, which can cause a blockage.
• Meconium ileus: Infants with meconium ileus have stool that is thicker and stickier than normal and create a blockage in a part of the small intestine.
• Necrotizing enterocolitis: A medical condition where a portion of the bowel gets sick and may perforate.
• Omphalocele: A birth defect in which the baby’s intestine or other abdominal organs are outside of the body because of a hole in the belly button area.
• Pentalogy of Cantrell: Characterized by a combination of birth defects that may involve the breastbone, the muscle that separates the chest from the stomach and aids in breathing (diaphragm), the thin membrane that lines the heart (pericardium), the stomach wall, and the heart.
• Pulmonary hypoplasia: Babies with pulmonary hypoplasia do not have fully developed lungs.
• Pyloric stenosis: A condition in infants that blocks food from entering the stomach.
• Sacrococcygeal teratoma: A tumor that develops before birth and grows from the baby’s tailbone.
• Tracheoesophageal fistula: Normally, eating and breathing are done through two separate tubes. However, babies with tracheoesophageal fistula have an abnormal connection between the esophagus–which is the tube from the throat to the stomach and the trachea–which is the tube from the throat to the lungs).

Surgical Expertise for Congenital Heart Defects

• Atrial septal defects: An abnormal opening or hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart.
• Atrioventricular canal defects (AV canal): A category of congenital heart defects including atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects and improperly formed mitral or tricuspid valves.
• Coarctation of the aorta: A more narrow than usual aorta is the primary characteristic of coarctation of the aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the left ventricle to the body.
• Dysfunctional heart valves: A congenital condition that occurs when heart valves that do not function properly due to leakage of the heart valve, called regurgitation, or narrowing of the heart valve, called stenosis.
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS): When most of the left side of the heart is underdeveloped,which can affect the mitral valve, left ventricle, aortic valve or aorta.
• Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA): All babies are born with an opening between the aorta and the pulmonary artery, called the ductus arteriosus. It usually closes on its own shortly after birth, but if it stays open it is called patent ductus arteriosus. This may cause extra blood flow to the lungs
• Repair or replacement of dysfunctional heart valves
• Severe arrhythmia: For severe heart rhythm issues that have not responded to other treatments, surgery may be needed.
• Single ventricle defects: When one of the two heart ventricles isn’t working correctly or is missing a valve which prevents the heart from pumping blood effectively.
• Tetralogy of Fallot: A group of 4 congenital heart defects that occur together
• Total anomalous pulmonary venous return: An incorrect connection of the pulmonary veins.
• Transposition of the great arteries (TGA): An incorrect connection of the large blood vessels, or any great arteries of the heart, specifically the aorta and pulmonary arteries.
• Truncus arteriosus: Rather than separate arteries, truncus arteriosus is an abnormal connection between the aorta and pulmonary artery.
• Ventricular septal defects: A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is hole in the dividing wall, also called the septum, between the lower chambers of the heart–the right and leftventricles.

Optical Surgical Expertise for Premature Babies

• Retinopathy of prematurity: An eye disease that can happen in premature babies that causes abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina and can lead to blindness.

Pediatric Facial Structures Specialization

• Cleft lip and cleft palate: Openings or splits in the upper lip or roof of the mouth, also called the palate, is called cleft lip and cleft palate defect.

Expert Pediatric Urinary Specialization

• Cloaca anomalies: A collection of defects in female babies where the rectum, vagina, and urinary tract are fused together.
• Hypospadias: A birth defect in male babies in which the opening of the urethra (the tube through which urine exits the body)is on the underside of the penis instead of at the tip.

Access to Every Surgical Subspecialty Within Minutes

As a dedicated children’s hospital, our surgical team brings together board-certified and fellowship-trained specialists –such as highly skilled pediatric anesthesiologists and neonatal intensivists from UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital’s NICU–ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.We also provide support services such as extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the most complex cases.

Whether surgery is planned or an emergency situation, expert neonatal surgeons in every surgical subspecialty are all under one roof –and are only minutes away–to care for your little one. Our surgical team works closely with the care team to expedite diagnoses and make swift decisions when every minute counts.

An Environment Built for Newborns

We use state-of-the-art diagnostics and surgical equipment at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’sHospital, including small caliber instruments designed just for newborns that allow us to perform a number of minimally invasive surgeries. Our team also helped develop the Rainbow Flex neonatal surgical bed designed specifically for the tiniest of patients –with better access for physicians and warming capabilities for newborn health and comfort.Many procedures can even be performed right at the newborn’s bed side or in our Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) procedure room,causing the least amount of disruption possible.