Reducing the Trauma of Surgery for Infants

After learning that their newborn son would require surgery to repair his esophagus, Regina and Michael Moerdyk were terrified at the prospect. Performing such a procedure on an infant weighing less than six pounds would be a delicate matter.

Fortunately, it could be performed laparoscopically by a surgeon who had arrived at Tisch only months earlier, and just happened to be the only pediatric surgeon in New York City who specializes in minimally invasive surgery on young infants.

Using special tiny instruments, Evan P. Nadler, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director of NYU’s Minimally Invasive Pediatric Surgery, can access the infant’s body through incisions no larger than a fifth of an inch across. This minimizes both trauma and scarring for the baby.

“It’s terrible that this happened to our son,” says Regina Moerdyk, “but we got the best possible outcome. He is 100 percent better than before the surgery. He is gaining weight, and we feel pretty optimistic.”