This 2012 file photo of a cesarean birth offers some perspective of the daunting challenges of operating on newborns and other tiny patients. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Dr. Steven Rothenberg, pediatric surgeon and chair of surgery at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver has received a national award given to physicians whose work has significantly transformed the field of endoscopy and minimally invasive surgery.
The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons honored Rothenberg as the 2015 “SAGES Pioneer in Surgical Endoscopy” on April 15 in Nashville.
Recipients are recognized as “pioneering surgeons who developed new surgical techniques, created innovative instruments or have fostered the growth of minimally invasive surgery through mentoring and clinical education,” hospital officials said.
Rothenberg has performed many of the first pediatric surgeries in the world using endoscopic or minimally-invasive techniques involving thin tubes attached to cameras and other instruments. The techniques require much smaller incisions and inflict much less trauma to the body.
Although SAGES primarily focuses on advancing and developing less-invasive surgical techniques in adults, Rothenberg joined SAGES 20 years ago while working with a group of pediatric surgeons to develop the International Pediatric Surgery Group. He has helped bring the two groups together to collaborate on surgical advancements.
He performed the first thoracoscopic repair of a tracheo-esophageal atresia in a newborn. It’s a congenital defect in which, in most cases, the upper esophagus ends without connecting with the lower esophagus and stomach — the top end of the lower esophagus connects instead to the windpipe.
Rothenberg performed the first thoracoscopic lobectomy in a child in the world — using a specially outfitted tube to remove a portion of lung.
And he performed the first repair in a U.S. infant of duodenal atresia — a common intestinal anomaly.
Rothenberg, a professor of surgery at Columbia University in New York, trains other surgeons throughout the country and also teaches extensively internationally.
Rothenberg has worked with National Jewish Health in Denver to study the relationship between gastric reflux (GERD) and reactive airway disease in children.
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