Pediatric Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery
In the Department of Pediatric Thoracic Surgery, congenital and pediatric diseases that occur mainly in the heart, lungs, esophagus, aorta, mediastinum, diaphragm, and trachea are diagnosed and treated surgically.
We are divided into the congenital and pediatric heart disease and pediatric general thoracic field and are engaged in surgical treatment and outpatient treatment.
In congenital and pediatric heart disease, we treat both non-cyanic congenital and pediatric heart diseases such as patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects, coarctation of the aorta, and cyanotic congenital heart diseases such as tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary stenosis or pulmonary atresia, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In the pediatric general thoracic field, chest wall deformities that occur in the lungs, esophagus, mediastinum, and diaphragm, and especially diseases such as funnel chest, are treated.
The Department of Pediatric Thoracic Surgery at Seoul National University Hospital has made great strides in preoperative diagnosis and patient management, and patient intensive care management in the intensive care unit after surgery, based on research on congenital and pediatric heart disease, accumulation of medical experience, and development of medical technology over the past 50 years. We are also not only the best in the country in terms of clinical results, but also in research, and are now in line with world-class congenital heart disease centers. As the outcome of surgical treatment for congenital heart disease improves, the long-term survival rate of patients is also increasing, expanding the age distribution of adult patients with congenital heart disease. Accordingly, we are managing congenital and pediatric heart disease through various approaches such as additional procedures, surgery, and post-operative management for patients of various ages, from newborns to adults.
We are recently focusing more on the early complete correction of complicated congenital and pediatric heart malformations, minimization of neurological complications during cardiac surgery in newborn and infant patients in aortic arch-related diseases, and staged Fontan surgery for single ventricular treatment and minimization of related complications. Currently, we implant long-term para-corporeal ventricular assist devices for pediatric patients with irreversible heart failure requiring eventual heart transplantation, which is rarely performed in pediatric patients due to a lack of small donor heart comparing to adult population. We are expecting this ventricular assist device implantation will improve patients’ condition through pre-transplantation rehabilitation and will reduce waiting mortality rate until heart transplantation.
In addition, we are researching with active clinical experience in programs such as surgical treatment and cardiac rehabilitation for adult patients with congenital and pediatric heart disease.
In the pediatric thoracic surgery field, we are leading in thoracoscopic surgery to treat pediatric lung diseases in Korea. Since Korea’s first successful thoracoscopic lobectomy in 2005, we have achieved world-class results by applying thoracoscopic surgery to 90% of children with lung disease. In the pediatric general thoracic field, the minimally invasive nursing procedure is applied to thoracic deformities such as pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum to achieve complete correction in both functional and cosmetic aspects. In addition, based on our long-standing surgical treatment experience in pediatric cancer patients such as neuroblastoma, mediastinal tumor, and metastatic lung tumor, we are continually striving to cure pediatric cancers.
1. Major Target Diseases
Congenital and pediatric heart disease such as congenital cardiovascular disease, chronic heart failure, and congenital heart disease in adult patients, lung disease in children, congenital lung disease, Pneumothorax, thoracic cage disease, chest wall deformities such as pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum, mediastinal tumors, pediatric thoracic tumors, esophageal disease, hyperhidrosis, etc.