title: Pediatric laparoscopic surgery; initial experience from Pakistan; first 100 cases in single center.
abstract: In a developing country like Pakistan, laparoscopic surgeries are not considered favourable by many, possibly because of high costs or a lack of expertise. It is an established fact that laparoscopic surgery offers better surgical treatments with a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications. The current retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi and comprised of laparoscopy cases performed by a single surgeon from March 2012 to September of 2014. A total of 100laparoscopic surgeries were performed; mostly appendectomies 49(49%) and undescended testes (UDTs) 34(34%). Overall, there were 70(70%) male patients. The mean age of the patients was 7.1 years and standard deviation (SD) of 2. Four (4%) patients had cellulitis. Laparoscopy paediatric surgery offered advantages of fewer wound-associated complications, less incisional pain, a shorter recovery time, and improved cosmesis.
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate Medical Student, Aga Khan Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishaq
authors.affiliation: Section of Pediatric Surgery, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Saqib Hamid
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Qazi
authors.affiliation: Section of Pediatric Surgery, Indus Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sohail
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dogar
authors.affiliation: Intern, Aga Khan Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Younus
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Khan Durrani
authors.affiliation: Section of Pediatric Surgery, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Ahmad Vaqas
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Faruque
mesh_terms: D001062:Appendectomy; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords:  Laparoscopic paediatric surgery, Children, Minimally invasive. 