ABSTRACT
Gynecologists published the first reports on minimally invasive surgery in adults around 50 years ago. By then, it was mainly used for diagnostic procedures, because of the limitations in visualization and instrumentation. The introduction of chip cameras in the late 1980s enabled the surgeon and assistant to watch a screen and perform surgery at the same time, instead of holding a telescope and looking through a lens close to the patient. The development of better endosurgical instruments enabled surgeons to perform a variety of laparoscopic procedures including appendectomies, cholecystectomies, fundoplications, and more advanced operations. However, due to the lack of instruments, endoscopes, and trocars of appropriate size, the acceptance of minimally invasive surgery in the pediatric population in general, let alone in neonates, took longer than in adults. Recently, the development of smaller, shorter, and more durable instruments along with improved optical equipment has allowed pediatric surgeons to perform more complex endosurgical procedures in young children and newborns.1
