General Surgery

"General pediatric surgery delivers the highest-quality care to children who need surgery. Our dedicated team of acute care surgeons performs procedures like appendectomies, cholecystectomies and cares for injured children. Our expert surgical oncologists carry out complex resections to remove cancers. Our neonatal surgeons treat infants born with abnormalities affecting their lungs, diaphragm and intestines. Our thoracic surgeons provide surgical treatment for chest wall and lung abnormalities, and specialists on our team provide children with complex colorectal, esophageal and thyroid disorders the surgical care they deserve."

Barbara Gaines, M.D.
Surgeon-in-Chief, Children's Health
Pediatric Surgeon and Professor, UT Southwestern

PATIENT OUTCOMES

>95% of patients reduced length of stay from 3.5 days to only 1 night from surgery for chest wall anomalies

3.5 days Average length of stay for IBD patients
<5-7 days National benchmark

55% reduction in surgical site infections after colorectal surgery from 9% to <4%

KEY PROGRAMS

Colorectal and Pelvic Center

Children’s Health is the only pediatric hospital in North Texas to offer coordinated, multidisciplinary care for children born with complex bowel and pelvic conditions, such as anorectal malformations, Hirschsprung disease and sacrococcygeal teratomas. Team specialties include surgery, urology, GI motility, gynecology and psychology. The Colorectal and Pelvic Center team performs reconstructive surgery and provides ongoing care for children from infancy through adolescence. We are also a referral center for the most complex variations of these conditions – such as cloacal anomalies, cloacal exstrophy, long-segment Hirschsprung disease and re-do procedures. In addition, we offer a bowel management program for the treatment of constipation and fecal incontinence in children with colorectal and pelvic malformations.

The Center for Pectus and Chest Wall Anomalies

Established to offer specialized, comprehensive care to patients with breastbone and rib cage deformities, our expert team uses both surgical and nonsurgical approaches to help patients. We are one of the earliest adopters of novel technology such as cryoanalgesia and thought leaders in enhanced recovery protocols for surgery related to pectus anomalies. Additionally, we have been designated as a Level I and Level II National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) by the American College of Surgeons.

119 pectus surgeries last year (amongst the top five busiest centers in the nation)

Pediatric Thyroid Center

As one of the few specialized centers in the nation with a team of experts dedicated to treating children with thyroid disorders, we serve 67% of thyroid patients in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Bringing together specialists from surgery, endocrinology, radiology, pathology, anesthesia and oncology, we offer both surgical and nonsurgical treatments for all thyroid conditions, including thyroid nodules, thyroid cancer, hyperthyroidism and goiter.

Offers a pediatric multidisciplinary endocrine tumor board
Improves post-thyroidectomy clinical care guidelines
Incorporates advanced technologies — testing multiple parathyroid detection devices