Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Many pediatric surgeons practice at children’s hospitals.

Subspecialties of pediatric surgery itself include: neonatal surgery and fetal surgery.

Other areas of surgery also have pediatric specialties of their own that require further training during the residencies and in a fellowship: pediatric cardiothoracic (surgery on the child’s heart and/or lungs, including heart and/or lung transplantation), pediatric nephrological surgery (surgery on the child’s kidneys and ureters, including renal, or kidney, transplantation), pediatric neurosurgery (surgery on the child’s brain, central nervous system, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves), pediatric urological surgery (surgery on the child’s urinary bladder and other structures below the kidney necessary for ejaculation), pediatric emergency surgery, surgery involving fetuses or embryos (overlapping with obstetric/gynecological surgery, neonatology, and maternal-fetal medicine), surgery involving adolescents or young adults, pediatric hepatological (liver) and gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) surgery (including liver and intestinal transplantation in children), pediatric orthopedic surgery (muscle and bone surgery in children), pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery (such as for burns, or for congenital defects like cleft palate not involving the major organs), and pediatric oncological (childhood cancer) surgery.

Common pediatric diseases that may require pediatric surgery include

• congenital malformations: lymphangioma, cleft lip and palate, esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula, hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, intestinal atresia, necrotizing enterocolitis, meconium plugs, Hirschsprung’s disease, imperforate anus, undescended testes
• abdominal wall defects: omphalocele, gastroschisis, hernias
• chest wall deformities: pectus excavatum
• childhood tumors: like neuroblastoma, Wilms’ tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, ATRT, liver tumors, teratomas
• Separation of conjoined twins