What's new in pediatric surgery

TWO CONTRASTING THEMES resonated through pediatric surgery this year. There was buoyant optimism about continuing advances in the surgical care of children, and pride in the ever increasing volume and sophistication of original basic and clinical research performed by pediatric surgeons, particularly the young men and women who invested several years in research before (and often in order to qualify for) pediatric surgery fellowship. In contrast, there was considerable concern about the effect of managed care on surgical practice, and about the effect of a recent expansion of pediatric surgery fellowships. I have attempted to distill the contents of selected presentations at the major scientific meetings relevant to pediatric surgeons including the American Pediatric Surgical Association Meeting, the American Academy of Pediatrics Surgical Section, the Canadian Association of Paediatric Surgeons, and the Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. In an attempt to make this review reader-friendly and useful, I have selected a few areas where there have been significant advances rather than try to catalog every area of discussion, and I have sketched each topic in general terms without presenting supporting data and without assigning credit to individuals or institutions. Instead, I have included references to presentations or abstracts that appear in the official program of the meeting.