Pediatric Surgery

New-borns, children and teenagers up to around the age of 16 are treated at the Paediatric Surgery Clinic at the University Hospital in Uppsala. In principle, all parts of paediatric surgery except for heart surgery are practised at the clinic.

Among the youngest children, congenital malformations are an important research area. Short Bowel Syndrome is particularly noticed as a condition where large parts of the small intestine have been damaged or removed so that the uptake of fluid, salts, vitamins and other nutrients is inadequate. Complications such as blood poisoning can be the consequence when bacteria pass an unhealthy intestinal wall. In this group of patients, under-nourishment is a common consequence that is partly treated with supplementary nutrition. Some of these patients receive their nutrition intravenously. The risk of infections must also be prevented and infections that have broken out must be fought.

Studies are carried out on patients who have had an operation on their malformed oesophagus at birth (oesophageal atresia) to show early and late complications. Problems are charted from the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Children with urological problems are also treated at the clinic. Their life terms, adaptation to the disease and their status are followed up. Special interest is paid to young and older children with myelocele who have trouble empting their bladder. Here, the function of the bladder and the kidneys is studied, as well as complications such as stones and infection in the urinary tracts that may affect the long-term prognosis of the patients.

Angiogenesis, new formation of blood vessels, is a condition that enables a cancer to grow and spread. A new type of drug, angiogenesis blockers, may block angiogenesis. We are examining the effectiveness of angiogenesis blockers in animal experiment models for children’s cancer.