Biliary atresia (BA) is the result of fibrosing destructive inflammatory process affecting intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts, which lead to cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Kasai portoenterostomy has been the standard operative procedure in biliary atresia. Recently, there has been remarkable increase in the survival rate in cases of BA. However, long-term survivors are not clearly evaluated in Korea. To define long-term prognosis factors of patients who underwent surgery for BA, a retrospective study was undertaken of 10 (37 %) patients surviving more than 10 years among 27 patients who underwent one of Kasai procedures between 1981 and 1995. Hepatomegaly was present in 4 and splenomegaly in 7 patients. Serum bilirubin was normalized at 1 year after operation. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST, GOT), Alanine aminotransferase(ALT, GPT) were normalized at 12 years and alkaline phosphatase(ALP) was normalized at 13.5 years. Cholangitis developed mainly within 5 years after operation so close follow up is needed. Life long follow-up is needed because of progressive deterioration of liver function even after 10 years.

Fundoplication is accepted as an effective treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The recent results of laparoscopic fundoplication demonstrated safety and less morbidity, shorter hospital stay and less pulmonary complication compared to the open operation. Laparoscopic fundoplication has been our first choice of operation for gastroesophageal reflux disease since 2003. Among 29 cases, there were 2 conversion cases because of severe distension of transverse colon and hepatomegaly. We studied 27 consecutive patients operated upon from January 2003 through December 2004. There were 15 boys and 12 girls, ages from 1.5 months to 12 years (median 25.3 months). Body weight ranged from 2.9 kg to 37 kg (median 9.8 kg). Neurological abnormalities were present in 23 patients. Indications for surgery included medically refractory reflux associated with vomiting, pneumopathy, otorhinolaryngologic pathology, failure to thrive, esophagitis, apnea and bradycardia. We used 4-5 trocars of 5 mm or 12 mm with 30° telescope and performed the Nissen technique in all patients. In neurological impaired patients, gastrostomy tube was placed at the time of fundoplication. Median operative time was 130 minutes (70 - 300 minutes). There was no mortality nor intraoperative complication. Twenty-six patients were followed for median of 19 months (8 - 31 months). Four patients (15.4 %), who were all neurological impaired, developed recurrent symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Two of these patients had reoperation (1 laparoscopic approach, 1 open method). There were significant increases in body weight in 11 patients after fundoplication. Laparoscopic fundoplication is acceptable as a safe and effective method for gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Tapering enteroplasty was first described by Thomas in 1969 as one method of intestinal anastomosis. The advantages of tapering enteroplasty in the intestinal atresia are: First, it makes end-to-end anastomosis possible between the atretic bowel ends with considerable differences in diameters. Second, it promotes the recover of the postoperative bowel function. Third, it prevents the possibility of the short bowel syndrome by eliminating the need of resecting the dilated bowel. A total of 22 patients with intestinal atresia who underwent tapering enteroplasty from January 1988 to December 2005 at our institute were reviewed. In 3 of 22 cases, tapering enteroplasty was the 2^nd operation after an initial end-to-oblique anastomosis. We reviewed the following items: age, sex, type and location of intestinal atresia, initial feeding and total enteral feeding start day, the length of hospital stay and complications. The average age of the patients was 7 days. Male to female ratio was 1 to 1.2 (10 cases: 12 cases). We performed the tapering enteroplasty on all types and locations of the intestinal atresia from the duodenum to the colon: type I (n=3), type II (n=4), type IIIA (n=7), type IIIB (n=5), type IIIB and IV (n=1), type IV (n=1) and type C (duodenum) and type IIIB and IV (jejunum). On the average, the oral feeds were started on the postoperative 8.8^th day, and full caloric intake via the enteric route was achieved on postoperative 13.3^th day. The average length of hospital stay was 19.6 days. There were 1 case (4.5 %) of anastomotic complication and 2 cases (9 %) of adhesive ileus among 22 patients. The tapering enteroplasty on all types of intestinal atresia is a usefull operative method when there are considerable diameter differences between the atretic bowel ends.

Intestinal malrotation is usually asymptomatic and most often is found during abdominal exploration for other surgical diseases. However, a serious complication of intestinal malrotation, midgut volvulus is a true surgical emergency of childhood. The clinical findings, diagnostic procedures, treatment, and prognosis of midgut volvulus were reviewed by a retrospective study. Between 1980 and 2005, 29 patients with midgut volvulus ranging in age from 1 day and 15 years were treated at HanYang University Hospital. Seventy-nine percent of the patients presented before 1 month of age. Midgut volvulus occurred 2 times more frequently in male. The clinical findings were bilious vomiting (96.6 %), irritability (34.5 %), abdominal distention (13.8 %), abdominal pain (10.3 %), and palpable abdominal mass (6.9 %). The diagnosis was made by abdominal simple x-ray (17.2 %), upper gastro-intestinal contrast study (37.9 %), abdominal sonogram (20.7 %), abdominal CT (3.4 %), and abdominal exploration (20.7 %). Among the 29 patients, 5 patients developed gangrene of small intestine due to strangulation and underwent resection of bowel. Two patients died due to sepsis.

A vitelline duct (VD) anomaly is a relatively common congenital abnormality of the umbilical area. The anomalies include patent vitelline duct (PVD), cyst, fistula or sinus. The incidence is approximately 2% of the populations, but development of symptoms is rare. Recently, we experienced two cases; PVD accompanied by a smallomphalocele and intestinal volvulus due to mesenteric band between Meckel's diverticulum and the mesentery. Thereafter,we evaluated the data of vitelline duct anomalies for 27 years. From 1980 to 2006, 18 cases of VD anomalies were reviewed based on the hospital records retrospectively. There were 15 boys and 3 girls and age ranged from 2 days to 15 years. Among the 18 cases, 15 cases were symptomatic and consisted of Meckel's diverticulum (10 cases), PVD (4 cases) and umbilical polyp (1 case). Three asymptomatic cases of Meckel's diverticulum were found incidentally were and were observed without resection. Ten cases of Meckel's diverticulum were presented with intestinal bleedings (4 cases), intestinal obstructions (5 cases) and perforation (1 case). Wedge resections and segmental resections of ileum were performed in 8 patients and 2 patients, respectively. Postoperative complications were adhesive ileus (1 case) and wound seroma (1 case). Small omphaloceles were accompanied in two of 4 PVD patients. There was 1 small omphalocele case which was accompanied by a prolapse of ileum. In summary, VD anomalies were more common in male and more than half of them were found in patients less than 1 year of age. PVD was diagnosed most frequently in neonates. Meckel's diverticulum presented with intestinal obstruction more frequently than bleeding.

Appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in childhood and the technologic advances of modern medicine have affected the diagnosis and treatment of appendicitis. This study is to evaluate the differences in diagnosis and treatment of appendicitis between present and 10 year ago. The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent appendectomy under the diagnosis of the acute appendicitis from July 1993 to June 1995 (Group A, n = 78) and from July 200 to June 2005 (Group B, n = 105). There are no differences between group A and B in mean age (8.5 ±3.6 vs. 9.3 ±3.1 year), duration of symptoms (3.0 ±3.2 vs. 2.6 ±3.8 days), and postoperative hospital stay(6.6 ±4.8 vs. 5.8 ±3.6 days). Preoperative abdominal ultrasonogram and/or computed tomogram was performed in 7 patients (9.0 %) of group A and in 51 patients (58.5 %) of group B. Thirty-six patients (34.3 %) of group B underwent laparoscopic appendectomy, but none in group A. Incidence of a histologically normal appendix decreased from 15.8 % in group A to 4.8 % in group B (p =0.018). This study suggests that utilization of abdominal ultrasonogram or computed tomogram in preoperative evaluation become more popular and surgical treatment of acute appendicitis become more minimally invasive. The rate of negative appendectomy was also reduced compared with 10 year ago.

Pediatric laparoscopic appendectomy is controversial particularly in complicated appendicitis. We evaluated the outcomes of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) and open appendectomy (OA) in simple appendicitis and complicated appendicitis respectively. Since June 2004, initial LA has been our policy in all appendicitis including complicated ones. A total of 160 patients were included in this study, consisting of 80 OA (August 2001 . August 2003) and 80 LA (June 2004 . June 2006). We compared the operating time, the length of hospital stay, the length of antibiotics use, and the postoperative complications between LA and OA. In simple appendicitis (73), there were no differences between LA and OA. However in the 87 patients with complicated appendicitis, the operating time was longer in LA (64.8 min vs. 50.2 min) but the length of hospital stay was shorter in LA than OA (8.5 days vs. 9.6 days). There was one complication in simple appendicitis group and six in complicated appendicitis group (3 cases in LA, 3 cases in OA). There was no difference in the results of LA versus OA in simple appendicitis. Therefore for simple appendicitis, LA is recommended in consideration of the cosmetic effect (fewer scar). In complicated appendicitis, early discharge was an advantage and there were no differences in complications in LA despite a longer operative time. So we conclude LA can be considered as the first choice of treatment for all pediatric appendicitis including complicated appendicitis. To confirm our impressions, more well controlled randomized prospective studied need to be done.

Conventional treatment of Hirschsprung's disease consists of initial colostomy followed by pull-through operation. But, the treatment of Hirschsprung's disease has been changed along with the development of new surgical technique. Since 1995, endo-GIA has been available at our hospital and one stage Duhamel operation has been performed for neonatal Hirschsprung's disease. Between May 1995 and April 2006, 26 neonates have been treated with one stage pull-through operation by one pediatric surgeon at HanYang University Hospital. The sex ratio was 4.2:1 with male predominance. Clinical findings included abdominal distension (96.2 %), vomiting (50.0 %), delayed passage of meconium (46.2 %), constipation (23.1 %), and enterocolitis (15.4 %). Twenty two cases (84.6 %) were short-segment and 4 cases (15.4 %) were long-segment disease, of which 2 cases were total colon aganglionosis. One of the two patients with total colonic aganglionosis had double transition zones - distal ileum and hepatic flexure of the colon. The average age at operation was 14.56 ± 8.77 days and the average weight at operation was 3.26±0.66 kg. Primary Duhamel operations were performed in 25 patients and Soave-Boley operations was performed in one patient. The endo-GIA 35 (Ethicon, USA) was used from 1995 until 1997, and after that endo-GIA 60 (USSC, USA) was used. The average Duhamel operation time was 88.57 ± 22.80 minutes. Wound abscess (n = 2) and septum formation (n =1) occurred after Duhamel operation. Bowel function was normalized in 59 % within 3 months and in 95% within 1 year after operation. There was no mortality after one stage pull-through operation in neonate.

There have been no definitive preoperative diagnostic imaging studies for impalpable testes. We observed the effectiveness of laparoscopy for detecting impalpable testes not identified with ultrasonography (USG) or careful physical examination under general anesthesia. We retrospectively reviewed 117 patients (118 testes) who were operated upon for undescended testes from January 1998 to December 2004. The testes of these patients were palpable in 97(82 %) and impalpable in 21 (18 %). We analyzed the preoperative diagnostic method, site of the testes, operative method and operative findings of the 21 impalpable testes. Preoperative USG and physical examination under general anesthesia were performed on 20 patients, and 12 patients' testes could be localized. Eight patients whose testes could not be localized with USG and physical examination underwent laparoscopy. Seven of the 8 patients had testes in inguinal canal and 4 of these were atrophied and underwent orchiectomy because of atrophy (2) and vanishing (2). Only 1 patient had bilateral intraabdominal testes and one of the testes was atrophied. Laparoscopy was a useful method for detecting impalpable testes, but the clinical application might be limited because the location of atrophic or vanishing testes was mainly inferior to internal inguinal ring.

The use of subcutaneously tunneled, cuffed central venous catheters like Broviac's or Hickman's has increased and complications related to catheter removal has also increased. However, there are only few reports of complications that occur at the time of removal. The authors report an unusual case of catheter fracture during removal of Broviac catheter.

The authors applied anterior sagittal transrectal apporach (ASTRA) for the repair of urethrovaginal fistula which developed after total repair of persistent cloaca. The patient had been diagnosed to have persistent cloaca, double uterus and double vagina, and received PSARP, excision of right-side uterus and vagina, and left vaginal switch operation at 22 months old. After operation, the patient admitted several times due to frequent urinary tract infection and ectopic stone formation in bladder and neovagina. Urethro-neovaginal fistula was confirmed by cystoscopy and corrected with ASTRA. Postoperative voiding cystourethrogram showed no fistula tract. ASTRA showed improved surgical field, minimized ureterocystic damage, and preserved perirectal nerve due to limited incision of rectum.

A 3-year-old boy with purulent otitis media received a chest radiograph as the part of a routine work up. The patient was normal appearing, in no acute distress. The patient's lung and heart sounds were clear and normal. The patient's abdomen was soft, non-distended, and non-tender. An anterior cardiophrenic mass was incidentally identified on the lateral chest radiograph. A computed tomography scan demonstrated a diaphragmatic hernia with bowel loops in the retrosternal space. An exploratory operation revealed a diaphragmatic defect (4 cm in diameter) on the left side of the falciform ligament, through which transverse colon was protruded. There was no hernia sac, and the defect was closed with interrupted No. 2 silk sutures. The child was discharged on the 8th postoperative day without any complications. During 6 months of follow-up period, recurrence was not noticed.

An 1-month old female newborn was admitted to our hospital because of jaundice which occurred at 2 days after birth. Plain chest X-ray and chest CT revealed a collapsed right middle lobe and lobar emphysema was suspected. Right upper lobectomy of the lung was done and pathologic findings showed an infantile lobar emphysema. After the operation, the newborn was discharged without complication and was followed up through the out patient clinic. Infantile lobar emphysema is rare and male dominant. Left upper lobe of the lung is the most prevalent site. Patients with infantile lobar emphysema complain of respiratory symptoms. We report one case of infantile lobar emphysema on right upper lobe of lung, in a female with no respiratory symptoms.