Dr Nadarajan Sudhakaran, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Imagine your child having to go through surgery at such a young age and getting a scar that could last a lifetime.

Not to mention all the pain that they would have to go through and the amount of time spent away from their friends in order to recover.

Wouldn’t that potentially kill their confidence and make them feel a little helpless or depressed?

What if there was a method that could prevent large scars and have less impact on your child’s body and organs, resulting in lesser pain and a faster road to recovery?

Would you opt for that?

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is one option to look at. It is a unique way of performing surgery using smaller instruments
and smaller incisions compared to traditional surgical methods while potentially leaving a smaller impact on your child’s body and organs.

Dr Nadarajan Sudhakaran, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur specialises in this method, so we reached out to him for a better understanding on MIS and the benefits of using this method compared to traditional surgeries.

Understanding Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS)

Dr Nadarajan performing Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) on a patient.

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) goes by a lot of names: keyhole surgery, minimal access surgery, general endoscopic surgery, etc. In general, minimally invasive surgery is a set of techniques that allow the surgeon to operate through very
small incisions using a surgical telescope (a tube containing a camera) and specially-designed instruments¹

According to Dr Nada, the size of the incisions varies from 3 to 10mm. “Most incisions for the laparoscopic instruments or camera are about 3mm,” he says, although larger ports are utilized when it is necessary to remove some larger specimens.

With MIS, doctors use these tiny instruments to perform procedures in the tummy or chest without making larger cuts and painful incisions on the child.

Benefits of Minimally Invasive Paediatric Surgery

Dr Nada explains that minimally invasive surgery is often the best approach to surgery for children because it causes as little disruption as possible to a child’s growing body.

Some of the benefits^2,3 of minimally invasive surgery include:

• Less pain and discomfort for your child after surgery, and therefore hospital stays are shorter, and your child is able to recuperate faster.
• Smaller scars and reduced long term cosmetic evidence of surgery
• Less impact on a child’s developing body
• Risk of infection or wound complications is low
• Doctors will have a better visualization of the organs and structures thanks to the use of sophisticated video-assisted equipment.
• Less time away from family and friends
• Your child would be able to return to their usual activities much sooner

A minimally invasive approach may or may not be the right approach for your child, which could be due to the anatomy or physiology of your child.

Whatever the situation is, always consult an expert in the field and do your research.

Surgeons like Dr Nada who specifically specialise in this method would be able to advise you further and explain what your child specifically needs.

Reference:
1. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. About Minimally Invasive Pediatric Surgery https://www.chop.edu/treatments/minimally-invasive-surgery/about
2. C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Benefits of Minimally Invasive Surgery for Children. https://www.mottchildren.org/conditions-treatments/benefits-minimally-invasive-surgery-children
3. K. Saravanan, V. Kumaran, G. Rajamani, S. Kannan, N. Venkatesa Mohan, M. Nataraj, and R. Rangarajan. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Minimally invasive pediatric surgery: Our experience. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2788464/