VCU Department of Surgery | About the Department

The IHC estimates that over 100,000 children are in need of surgical care. The non-profit humanitarian organization was established to recruit patient

pediatric surgical, diagnostic, and preventative specialists in order to send them to developing countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic. While in the visiting country the team performs critical surgical procedures, or in complex cases, brings the child back to the US for treatment.

This was the second trip for Dr. Lanning, having participated in his first mission in January 2007. And as in the '07 trip, the visiting team includes Dr. Lanning (pediatric surgeon), Dr. Mike Estes (pediatric anesthesiologist from St. Mary’s Hospital) Katie Marling (scrub nurse who works at St. Mary’s Hospital), and Kathy Stein (nurse anesthetist, St. Mary’s Hospital). Dr. Lanning stressed, "These guys are an invaluable part of the team. Having highly skilled members, such as these three, allows us to provide the complex care to the children that would otherwise be impossible. "

After arriving in St. Vincent, the team met with Dr. Bharati Datta at Milton Cato Hospital and began evaluating patients’ needs and assessing care required from most critical to least. Dr. Bharati coordinates with the IHC in locating the children who need care and is responsible for bringing them into the clinic. Dr. Lanning said, “We saw 47 patients, and did 15 surgeries in one week, and in my spare time I presented two lectures,” then he offered as an understatement, “we were busy.”

The cases presented to the team ranged between a sickle-cell patient needing gallbladder removal to a three-month old born with a renal tumor, to a newborn suffering from intestinal atresia. According to Dr. Lanning, “The atresia procedure was very successful and the baby’s doing great, he’ll live a full life. If we hadn’t been there to do the surgery, the baby would have died."

Dr. Lanning’s involvement with the IHC began three years ago with a complex case that was brought to the VCU Medical Center for treatment. Recently, he and one of his partners, Dr. Claudio Oiticica, treated a little boy who was so sick his recovery took over six months, “We just received a thank you card including a photo of him smiling and looking very healthy,” said Dr. Lanning, also smiling.

Whether sending teams to developing countries or bringing complex cases to the US, the International Hospital for Children continues to raise the level of indigenous pediatric critical care to these children. Dr. Lanning instructs staff of Milton Cato Hospital

Dr. Lanning instructs staff of Milton Cato Hospital

According to the IHC website, visiting teams teach and mentor the doctors and nurses at the clinics so that some day they won’t have to wait for an outside team to treat their country’s children.

According to Dr. Lanning, “I’m not going back for another mission probably until January 2009. However, during this time away, Dr. Frank Margaron, a General Surgery Resident, Dr. Lanning and patient

and I will initiate and further develop the Telemedicine Program at St. Vincent. Dr. Margaron’s participation has the potential to be an opportunity resulting in tangible benefits for both the resident and the community. Currently, I’m looking into grants and research endowments for additional funding that could result in among other things, a salary for the resident.”

Utilizing telemedicine capabilities that are in practice today, Dr. Lanning believes “we can assist Dr. Datta and other local adult general surgeons in caring for these children when we aren't there. In addition, a number of specialties including neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, cardiology, ophthalmology and others will also be able to take advantage of telemedicine's potential. Furthermore, prior to our team returning, this technology will be very helpful to aide with screening the patients, and in the future, to provide follow-up remotely. Dr. Margaron’s key role will be in helping to establish the St. Vincent Telemedicine Program and to study its implementation, scientifically, to truly determine if and how it impacts the surgical care of the Vincentian children.”