PEDIATRIC SURGERY
THE ART OF SURGERY
CORRECTING ANAL MALFORMATIONS WITH A DELICATE HAND
Alberto Peña, M.D., knew he’d found
his calling when, as a young surgical
resident, he got the opportunity to
watch one of the world’s foremost
surgeons operate. “It was then that
I saw that a surgery could be neat,
enjoyable, even elegant.”
That refinement has defined the
career of Dr. Peña, now one of
the leading surgeons in the world
himself. Specializing in rectal and
anal malformations, a discipline
associated with elegance by few,
Dr. Peña has made it his mission
to bring children with bowel
deficiencies the dignity of a normal
life. Along the way he’s pioneered
game-changing ways to do it better,
and with finesse.
Before 1980, the accepted surgical
method of entry to correct bowel
defects such as cloaca, in which the
rectum, vagina, and urinary tract
develop into a single, fused orifice,
was via the abdomen.
“Surgeons were going in blind,”
says Dr. Peña. “We couldn’t
see what we were doing.” Even
successful surgeries often destroyed
nerves and injured muscle groups,
resulting in lifelong urinary and
bowel incontinence and loss of
sexual function.
Dr. Peña changed that when he
conceived the posterior sagittal
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ALBERTO PEÑA, M.D., ANDREA BISCHOFF, M.D.
anoplasty, in which the patient is
laid face-down and the surgeon
opens the area right between the
buttocks like a book, affording a
much clearer path.
Better known as the
“Peña Pull-Through,”
it has since become
the treatment standard
everywhere the world.
Dr. Peña and Andrea Bischoff, M.D.,
his surgical partner and wife, now
bring their quest for refinement
“It was then
that I saw that a
surgery could be
neat, enjoyable,
even elegant.”
to the International Center for
Colorectal Care at Children’s
Hospital Colorado. Their goals
include earlier prenatal diagnosis,
a more unified model of care, and
improved ongoing treatment for
their many international patients,
who may lack access to good, local
follow-up care.
They’ll leave no area of care
untouched.
“We’re constantly improving each
component of the operation,” Dr.
Bischoff says. “We concentrate on
every stitch.”
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