A rather rare operation was performed at St. Nicholas Hospital a month ago. The little patient is already at home.
The First Medical Association of Lviv informed the Voice of Sokal Region about this.
Olya is now six years old. When she was two, she accidentally drank detergent and suffered severe chemical burns to her esophagus. In order for the girl to be able to drink and eat, every month for a year she was operated on – the narrowed and scarred esophagus was expanded. When it stopped helping, Olya had a gastrostomy installed – a tube in the stomach through which food was introduced directly into the stomach.
In addition to the problem with nutrition, Olya had another problem – she could not swallow saliva and had to constantly spit it into a handkerchief. It was very uncomfortable for the girl who went to school in September. Therefore, a month ago, the mother brought her to our doctors with a request to cure the child.
The only way out was reconstructive surgery – replacement of one’s own esophagus with an intestinal transplant.
Such interventions are very difficult and rare for children. However, this did not frighten our specialists. They formed an artificial esophagus from a fragment of the large intestine, placing it behind the sternum from the stomach to the upper segment of the esophagus. Already on the third day after the operation, Olya began to swallow saliva on her own, and a week later – to drink water.
Today, the little patient will come for a routine examination. She will have a gastroscopy to see if she can finally say goodbye to her gastrostomy. We will definitely write to you about the results of the examination and how Ola is doing now.