This study aimed to compare the outcomes of open fundoplication (OF) and laparoscopic fundoplication (LF) in children with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

We retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical charts of pediatric patients who underwent fundoplication for GERD between January 2005 and May 2018 at the Korean tertiary hospital. Patient characteristics, operation type, associated diagnosis, operation history, neurologic impairment, postoperative complication, recurrence, and operation outcomes were investigated. The Mann-Whitney U test or Student's t-test was used to evaluate continuous data as appropriate. The χ² test was used to analyze categorical data.

A total of 92 patients were included in this study; 50 were male and 42 were female. Forty-eight patients underwent OF and 44 patients underwent LF. Patient characteristics, such as sex ratio, gestational age, symptoms, neurological impairment, and history of the previous operation were not different between the two groups. A longer operative time (113.0±56.0 vs. 135.1±49.1 minutes, p=0.048) was noted for LF. There was no significant difference in operation time when the diagnosis was limited to only GERD, excluding patients with other combined diseases. Other surgical outcomes, such as intraoperative blood loss, transfusion rate, hospital stay, and recurrence rate were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The complication rate was slightly higher in the OF group than in the LF group; however, the difference was not significant (20.8% vs. 11.4%, p=0.344).

LF is as safe, feasible, and effective as OF for the surgical treatment of GERD in children.

Total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (T-IPAA) in childhood is a surgical procedure mainly applied to familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or ulcerative colitis (UC), but it can be applied to non-FAP/non-UC disease (NFNU). Studies regarding the role of T-IPAA who underwent the operation in childhood, especially in terms of long-term gastrointestinal function, complications, and quality of life (QOL) are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of patients receiving T-IPAA and to compare their bowel function outcomes and QOL.

Patients aged ≤18 years at the time of T-IPAA were included. Their medical records were retrospectively reviewed. Krickenbeck classification, Cleveland Clinic Incontinence (CCI) score, 36-item Short-form Health Survey Questionnaire, and Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index were used for the evaluation of bowel function and QOL. The median follow-up period was 9.8 years.

Of the 25 patients, 9 had FAP, 9 had UC, and 7 had NFNU. NFNU include 3 of Hirschsprung disease, 2 of intestinal neuronal dysplasia, and 2 of imperforate anus. The median age at T-IPAA was 17.8, 14.2, and 9.3 years for FAP, UC, and NFNU, respectively (p=0.001). Bowel function was satisfactory in terms of voluntary bowel movement (VBM), soiling, and constipation. VBM and constipation were not different between the groups, but soiling was most in NFNU (100%, p=0.047). However, QOL was best in the NFNU group in surveys (p=0.034 and 0.004, respectively).

T-IPAA could be safely applied not only for FAP and UC but also for other diseases in selective cases, with caution.

Thyroid cancer is a rare disease in pediatric population, but its incidence rate is increasing. The aim of this report is to present a single institution experience of pediatric thyroid cancer and to identify clinical features, predisposing factors, and postoperative course of pediatric thyroid cancer.

We retrospectively reviewed 35 pediatric patients who underwent operation due to thyroid cancer at Seoul National University Children's Hospital between May 1997 and January 2017. The median follow-up period was 70 months (range, 5–238 months).

The mean age at operation was 12.0±5.91 years and 27 patients were female. The underlying conditions in patients included history of chemoradiotherapy for previous other malignancies (n=4), hypothyroidism (n=3), history of chemotherapy (n=2), family history of thyroid cancer (n=1) and history of radiation therapy (n=1). The initial symptoms were palpable neck mass (n=21) and incidental findings (n=11). Total thyroidectomy (n=30) or unilateral lobectomy (n=5) were performed. There were 15 postoperative complications including transient hypocalcemia in 14 patients and Horner's syndrome in 1 patient. The most common pathologic cell type was papillary thyroid cancer (n=29). Extrathyroid extension and lymph node invasion were found in 25 patients and 27 patients, respectively. Thirteen patients showed multifocality. During follow-up period, 5 patients underwent additional operation because of tumor recurrence in lymph nodes. Lung metastasis was detected in 3 patients at the time of diagnosis and in 3 patients during follow-up period. The mortality rate was zero and mean disease-free survival was 83.7±47.9 months.

Pediatric thyroid cancer has lower mortality rate and recurrence rate as seen in this study despite the advanced stage at diagnosis. A thorough follow-up of patients with an underlying condition such as history of chemoradiotherapy and understanding new pediatric guideline can be helpful to maximize patients' survival and prognosis.

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in abdomen and thorax has been widely accepted for pediatric diseases. Thoracoscopic surgery has the advantage of less pain, better cosmetic outcomes and less musculoskeletal sequelae in comparison to open surgery. We would like to share our initial experience with thoracoscopic surgery performed by one pediatric surgeon.

We performed a retrospective review of patients who underwent thoracoscopic surgery by one pediatric surgeon between April 2010 and August 2017 in Department of Pediatric Surgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital.

There were totally 18 cases; 8 cases for esophageal atresia, 3 cases for congenital diaphragm hernia, 2 cases for diaphragm eventration, 2 cases for esophageal duplication cyst, 2 cases for pleural mass and 1 case for esophageal bronchus. At the operation, median age was 9.5 months (range, 0-259 months) and median body weight was 9.4 kg (range, 1.9-49.4 kg). Median operative time was 157.5 minutes (range, 45-335 minutes). There was no case of open conversion and 2 cases of minor leakage at anastomosis site in case of esophageal atresia. Median follow-up month was 5 months (range, 0-87 months). During follow-up, 4 cases of esophageal atresia showed anastomosis site narrowing and average 2.5 times (range, 1-5 times) of esophageal balloon dilatation was done.

We performed thoracoscopic surgery in case of esophageal, diaphragm disease and pleural mass. Thoracoscopic surgery can be an effective and feasible option of treatment for well-selected pediatric patients of intra-thoracic disease including esophagus, diaphragm and mediastinum disease.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rarely occurring disease in the pediatric population. We report our center's experience of management of HCC in children and adolescents.

From 1996 to 2012, 16 patients aged 18 or younger were diagnosed with HCC at our center. The medical records of these 16 patients were retrospectively reviewed.

There were 9 boys and 7 girls. Median age at diagnosis of HCC was 14.5 years. All patient had pathologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC. Three patients had distant metastasis at the time of HCC diagnosis. Eight patients were surgically managed, including 4 liver resections, 3 liver transplantations, and 1 intraoperative radiofrequency ablation. The remaining 8 patients received systemic chemotherapy. Overall, 6 patients are alive at median 63.6 months after diagnosis of HCC. All survivors were surgically managed patients.

HCC is a rare disease occurring in childhood. Patients with systemic disease have poor outcome. Liver transplantation may be a good option for treatment of pediatric HCC.