When a child has a condition that impacts his or her chest, whether it is gastroesophageal reflux, a tumor, or a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, that child requires specialized care from a thoracic team. The pediatric surgeons at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, have a special focus on congenital (present at birth) and acquired conditions of the neonatal and pediatric chest and are experts in pediatric chest surgery.

Offering a Range of Thoracic Surgery Options

Thoracic (chest) surgery encompasses all surgical procedures that treat the chest wall, as well as all the organs contained within the chest. They also team up with our heart center cardiac surgeons when the problem involves the heart. Using evidence-based, leading-edge treatment, including surgical repair done within hours of birth for the most critically ill babies, we are making a difference in the lives of children with complex chest conditions.

Why Choose Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital

Our pediatric surgeons offer a comprehensive and personalized approach to care that is designed to simplify the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment process.

• Johns Hopkins All Children’s offers expert congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) care. Survival rates for babies who are treated at Johns Hopkins All Children’s and require ECMO are among some of the best in the U.S. CDH is a rare birth defect that occurs when the diaphragm (the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen) does not form properly during a baby’s development.
• We have the very first Chest Wall Deformity Center in the region to specialize in the treatment of complex chest wall deformities, including pectus excavatum (funnel chest).
• Because we manage so many babies with difficult chest problems, our experienced pediatric surgeons, neonatologists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, pediatric anesthesiologists and Intensive Care Unit team are always prepared to offer complete and timely treatment.

Conditions We Treat

Johns Hopkins All Children’s surgeons perform more pediatric thoracic procedures than any other pediatric hospital in the region. Some of the conditions we treat include:

• Complex esophageal and airway problems, including esophageal atresia (abnormality of the esophagus), esophageal duplications (cysts of the esophagus), tracheoesophageal fistulas (abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea) and esophageal strictures (narrowing of the esophagus)
• Congenital chest conditions, including complex congenital lesions of the chest and congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• Chest tumors, including neuroblastomas, lymphomas, thymic tumors and teratomas
• Cystic lung disease and masses, including pulmonary sequestrations of the lung, a condition that can interfere with normal circulation, cause respiratory infections and possibly heart failure, and bronchogenic cysts that affect the esophagus and trachea
• Hyperhidrosis, a debilitating condition that causes excessive sweating in amounts greater than what is needed to regulate body temperature
• Lung infection and trauma, including (pneumonia), pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and other acquired lung conditions that require surgical intervention

Minimally Invasive Surgery

A number of thoracic surgeries are performed using minimally invasive, single incision surgical techniques. Our minimally invasive thoracic surgeries include:

• Repair of pectus excavatum
• Debridement of empyema (complication of pneumonia)
• Pneumothorax
• Lung biopsy/lobectomy
• Sequestration
• Bronchogenic cysts
• Esophageal duplications
• Resection of pulmonary metastasis
• Aortopexy
• Sympathectomy for palmar hyperhydrosis
• Thymectomy
• Esophageal atresia/fistula
• Diaphragmatic hernia