[Stress tolerance of the patient in pediatric surgery].

In pediatric surgery pain and suffering are not those dominant problems as in adult surgery. So even an extended operative procedure can be performed in a child without hesitation, if it seems to be useful. Much more than in adult medicine, the pediatric surgeon has to consider the consequences of his treatment on the whole family, esp. on the patient's mother. There is a lack of experience concerning toleration of a pregnancy by a mother who knows already about a treatable malformation of the fetus. Two cases are presented: omphalocele and gastroschisis.