The course day on Wednesday was well attended by many pediatric surgeons. Both the “Laparoscopy in Small Volumes” and the “Robotic Surgery Course” were welcome challenges and valuable learning opportunities.
We kicked off the pediatric surgery annual congress with an interdisciplinary session together with representatives from traumatology and interventional radiology, leading to exciting discussions on blunt abdominal trauma in adolescents. We learned, among other things, that puberty can sometimes extend its influence until the age of 25 years.
This was followed by inspiring presentations from young researchers, including the innovative basic research on novel treatment methods for Short Bowel Syndrome by Julian Muff, MD-PhD student at the University Children’s Hospital of Basel. His work was awarded the “Prix Nachwuchs” of the Swiss Society of Pediatric Surgery for its scientific and visual originality. A spirit of innovation and change was clearly felt in the presentations on Entrusted Professional Activities (EPA) and competency-based medical education, and how these concepts are being implemented in pediatric surgery.
At the “Surgeon’s Night”, the view over Lake Geneva was breathtaking, and we say it with pride: once again, it was the pediatric surgeons who opened the dance floor!
On the second day of the congress, we dedicated a session with a focus on plastic surgery to the two Swiss Pediatric Burn Centers in Zurich and Lausanne, highlighting both their similarities and differences.
A moving, philosophical, and proud moment came with the session “Guardians of Pediatric Surgery”, where Professor Claude Le Coultre took us back to a time when laparoscopy was just beginning and catheter systems like the Port-a-Cath were not yet established. Professor Claude Le Coultre was the Director of the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Geneva University Hospital from 1991 until 2004, well-known for her work as a transplant surgeon as well as her humanitarian work for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
With a personal touch, Marc Schumacher, Senior Pediatric Surgeon at the Stadtspital Triemli in Zürich, reflected on how the broad age spectrum of our patients, from infant, toddler, school child until adolescent and the unique conditions children offer with regards to malformations, fracture patterns and healing potential make our speciality so unique.
Moreover, Michael Gradwell, Chief Resident in pediatric surgery at the University Children’s Hospital Basel, highlighted the challenges we face with creativity and confidence such as guaranteeing a profound surgical curriculum despite low case load and a broad spectrum of diseases as well as introduction of robotic surgery and artificial intelligence.
The subsequent session with a focus on pediatric urology included, among other things, the successful model of multi-institutional collaboration in the surgical treatment of children with bladder exstrophy.
The second day concluded with short presentations from various fields of pediatric surgery—from indocyanine green-supported varicocelectomy to the Schede positioning in radial fractures. How better could we have demonstrated the fascinating and broad spectrum of pediatric surgery?
