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• Splenectomies

  A splenectomy is surgery to remove an injured spleen.

• Elective Surgery

  Elective surgery means you and the doctor decide when the it will happen. Many elective surgeries are important, potentially life-changing operations. Here's how to plan for them.

• Giving Opioid Prescription Pain Medicine: What Parents Need to Know

  If your child’s health care provider prescribed a prescription pain medicine that contains an opioid, you probably have many questions about how to use it safely. Get answers here.

• Sedation

  Sedation is the use of medicines to help someone relax and not feel pain during a medical procedure.

• Anesthesia

  Knowing the basics of anesthesia may help answer your questions and ease some concerns — both yours and your child's.

• Minimally Invasive Surgery

  Minimally invasive surgery is a type of procedure done with smaller incisions (cuts).

• Laryngoscopy

  Laryngoscopy, a visual exam of the voicebox and airway, can help discover the causes of voice and breathing problems, throat or ear pain, and other bothersome symptoms.

• Gastrostomy Tube (G-Tube)

  Some kids have medical problems that prevent them from being able to take adequate nutrition by mouth. A gastrostomy tube (also called a G-tube) delivers nutrition directly to the stomach.

• When Your Child’s in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

  It can be stressful whenever kids are in the hospital — and even more so when they're admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). A basic understanding of the PICU can help you feel better prepared to help your child recover.

• Can Anesthesia Hurt Brain Development?

  Find out what the experts say.

• What Is Informed Consent?

  Informed consent is a legal term that means a person is aware of the facts of a situation (such as a surgical procedure) before agreeing to it.

• Helping Kids Get Ready for Surgery

  Kids who will be having surgery may feel stressed about it. Here's how parents can help them.

• Anesthesia – What to Expect

  Here's a quick look at what may happen before, during, and after your child gets anesthesia.

• Wound Healing and Care

  How well a wound heals depends on where it is on the body and what caused it. Good home care is an important part of healing.

• What’s a Laryngoscopy? (Video)

  Laryngoscopy is when a doctor uses a special camera to look down the throat to see the voice box (larynx) and vocal cords.

• Preventing Infections When Your Child Has Surgery (Video)

  Learn how to prevent surgical site infections both before and after your child's surgery.

• Spinal Fusion Surgery

  A spinal fusion is a surgical procedure that's done to stabilize or straighten the bones in the back. It can help kids and teens with scoliosis.

• What’s a Cochlear Implant? (Video)

  A cochlear implant is a surgically placed device that helps a person with severe hearing loss hear sounds. Doctors consider cochlear implants for children under 12 months of age with profound hearing loss in both ears. Older children with serious hearing loss also may get cochlear implants.

• What’s Ear Tube Surgery (Myringotomy)? (Video)

  A doctor might suggest ear tube surgery if a child gets many ear infections that don't clear up easily or the ear infections seem to be causing hearing loss or speech delay. Ear tube surgery can drain fluid from the middle ear, prevent future infections, and help the child hear properly again.

• Meatoplasty

  The treatment for meatal stenosis is a simple procedure to make the opening of the meatus bigger called a meatoplasty.

• Heart Transplant

  If your child needs a heart transplant, you're probably feeling lots of emotions. Fortunately, many kids who undergo heart transplants go on to live normal, healthy lives.

• Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)

  Retinopathy of prematurity, which can happen in premature babies, causes abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina. Some children will need surgery to prevent vision loss or blindness.

• Quick Video Summary: Treating Tear-Duct Blockage (Tear Duct Massage)

  Blocked tear ducts are a fairly common problem in infants. If your child has a blocked tear duct, your doctor may show you how to massage the eye several times a day at home for a few months. Massaging can help open the blockage.

• Epilepsy Surgery

  Epilepsy surgery is an operation done on the brain to reduce or stop seizures.

• What’s a Laparoscopic Appendectomy? (Video)

  An appendectomy is surgery to remove the appendix. Surgeons remove the appendix when it gets blocked and becomes infected. A laparoscopic appendectomy lets surgeons remove the appendix with the help of a tiny video camera called a laparoscope.

• Treating Indirect Inguinal Hernia (Video)

  An inguinal hernia happens when part of the intestines slips into the groin (where the belly meets the upper leg) instead of staying in the belly as it should. Doctors fix inguinal (IN-gwuh-nul) hernias with surgery.

• Treating Gastroschisis – Gastroschisis Silo (Video)

  Gastroschisis is when a baby is born with the intestines, and sometimes other organs, sticking out through a hole in the belly wall near the umbilical cord. A gastroschisis silo allow the intestines to slowly move into the belly.

• Liver Transplant

  If your child needs a liver transplant, you're probably feeling lots of emotions. Fortunately, most kids who have liver transplants go on to live normal, healthy lives.