Pediatric Aortic Injury From a BB Gun Injury Requiring Emergent Thoracotomy.

Background: The leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population is unintentional injury. Emergent thoracotomies are rarely performed in pediatric patients, especially in the very young pediatric population. We present a case of a 10-year-old male who survived emergent clamshell thoracotomy for penetrating chest trauma.

A decade of using intraluminal tracheal/bronchial stents in the management of tracheomalacia and/or bronchomalacia: is it better than aortopexy?

Background: We compared the efficacy and clinical outcomes of aortopexy versus tracheal stents in the management of tracheomalacia.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 25 consecutive patients undergoing aortopexy (n = 11; 8 boys, 3 girls) or tracheal stents (n = 14; 9 boys, 5 girls) between 1993 and 2003 was performed.

Results: Both treatment groups, aortopexy versus stents, were comparable in their mean age of diagnosis, timing of intervention, surgical indications ("dying spell" or failed extubation), and previous underlying conditions.

One-stage transanal Soave pullthrough for Hirschsprung disease: a multicenter experience with 141 children.

Background: The surgical management of Hirschsprung's disease (HD) has evolved from the original 3-stage approach to the recent introduction of minimal-access single-stage techniques. We reviewed the early results of the transanal Soave pullthrough from 6 of the original centers to use it.

Methods: The clinical course of all children with HD undergoing a 1-stage transanal Soave pullthrough between 1995 and 2002 were reviewed.