Six-year-old Ola from Kovel, who accidentally drank detergent, had an artificial esophagus formed in Lviv. A rare operation was performed on the girl at the St. Nicholas Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
When the girl was two years old, she accidentally drank detergent and received severe chemical burns of her esophagus. In order for her to be able to drink and eat, every month for a year she was operated on – the narrowed and scarred esophagus was expanded. When that 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, her mother brought her to the doctors of a children’s hospital in Lviv with a request to cure the child.
“The only way out was reconstructive surgery – replacing 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 after a week – to drink water”, – share the doctors of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
Next Monday, 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.