ABSTRACT
Congenital birth defects are leading cause of infant deaths. Over the last five years a total of 499 cases with congenital anomalies were diagnosed at or referred to the department of pediatric surgery at AI Galaa Teaching Hospital. This represents an incidence of 0.8% of livebirths. Out of these diagnosed malformed cases; urogenital birth anomalies were the most frequent group representing 24.6%, gastrointestinal anomalies were found in 17.2%, limb anomalies 15.8%, neural tube defects 12.4%, Skin anomalies 10%, abdominal wall defect 8.4%, gynecological anomalies 5%, diaphragmatic hernia 2.8%, abdominal masses 1%, sacrococygeal teratoma 0.8%, of cases. Early surgical intervention was required in 33.5% of cases. Early genetic evaluation of children with birth defects can identify their problems as an isolated anomaly of as a part of genetic syndromes. Such syndromes mandate early surgical intervention to prevent and manage problems that have not yet become clinically evident. We emphasize that pediatric surgery should stand fully recognized as a specialty in its own right to grasp the important features of a large number of unfamiliar surgical conditions