Research in Pediatric Surgery

The present study shows to which extent Pediatric Surgery needs to base its therapeutic attitudes and operations on a solid research background. This is particularly difficult on the field of clinical research because of the low prevalence of many of the conditions involved and also because of the fact that patients are minors that are not entitled to give informed consent by themselves for randomized studies. As regards laboratory research, this specialty is scarcely interesting for basic scientists. This situation can only be improved by prospective randomized studies performed in network collaboration with other hospitals/countries and by basic research conducted by pediatric surgeons or in association with other scientists. In order to illustrate this, the author summarizes the experience of his group on basic research on esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistula.