Johns Hopkins All Children's offers highly specialized care for infants requiring neonatal surgery, with care often beginning while a baby is still in the womb.

Premature and critically ill newborns may need surgery soon after birth to address defects or abnormalities. Operating on these critical newborns requires a highly specialized level of care.

At Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, our pediatric surgeons work closely with the perinatologists and neonatologists from the Johns Hopkins Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute and our pediatric anesthesiologists to provide exceptional neonatal surgery services for newborns with congenital and acquired conditions.

Care That Starts Before Birth

Care often begins before a baby is born. Our pediatric surgeons will meet with expecting families to counsel them about abnormalities that may have been discovered during a prenatal screening. In some instances, steps can be taken to treat babies while they are still in the womb, offering them the best chance for a healthy start.

Why Choose Johns Hopkins All Children’s

As one of the top-ranked pediatric hospitals in the United States, our board-certified pediatric surgeons offer highly specialized care for infants requiring surgery as well as seamless access to specialty services and convenient follow-up care.

Highlights of our program include:

• A comprehensive, team approach to care. Our pediatric surgeons work closely with a host of subspecialists, including perinatologists, obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric heart surgeons, geneticists, pediatric neurosurgeons and pediatric anesthesiologists.
• The Johns Hopkins All Children’s Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute, which provides high-risk obstetrical care and neonatal intensive care. It contains a 97-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, the highest level designated by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The institute also provides educational classes; the Bayfront Baby Place, where women with high-risk pregnancies may stay for several weeks before delivery; and Kangaroo Care, a method of care for newborns that fosters loving and nurturing care for babies in the NICU.
• State-of-the-art facilities and resources, including extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a special procedure that oxygenates and warms the blood, helping babies with heart and lung problems survive the initial few days of life until they can be stabilized.
• Regional Network of Care. Our surgeons work with community and regional hospitals throughout Tampa Bay to provide pediatric surgical care to children across the region, including at Tampa General Hospital and Brandon Regional Hospital.
• LifeLine, a critical care transport team that includes nurses and respiratory specialists who provide stabilization and specialized support until a child arrives at our hospital to receive specialized care.

Conditions We Treat

Our pediatric surgeons have specialized training and years of experience addressing numerous congenital (present at birth) and acquired conditions. Some of the conditions we treat include:

• Anorectal malformations, a range of birth defects in which the anus (opening through which stool passes) and the rectum (area of the large intestine just above the anus) do not develop properly.
• Annular pancreas, a rare condition characterized by a ring of excess pancreatic tissue that encases and obstructs part of the small intestine.
• Blockages in the intestines, including intestinal atresias.
• Common and rare heart defects, such as heart valve disorders and single-ventricle defects.
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a hole in the diaphragm that allows abdominal organs to migrate into the chest.
• Esophageal atresia, a malformation of the esophagus (the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach).
• Gastroschisis, a rare defect of the abdominal (belly) wall, in which the intestines protrude outside of the baby's body.
• Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition of the large intestines that causes difficult bowel movements.
• Lung lesions and tumors, such as congenital pulmonary airway malformation, a noncancerous tumor that develops in abnormal lung tissue.
• Necrotizing enterocolitis, a condition that occurs when the lining of the intestinal wall dies, common in premature or critically ill infants.
• Omphalocele, a birth defect where an infant's intestine or other abdominal organs develop outside of the body because of a hole in the navel (belly button) area.
• Short bowel syndrome, a condition in which the body cannot absorb enough nutrients because part of the small intestine is not working properly or missing.
• Tracheoesophageal fistula, an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea (tube that leads from the throat to the windpipe and lungs).