Man...he must get one nasty case of gastric reflux

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Surgeons Replace Esophagus with Colon

BEIJING, Nov 15, 2000 -- (Reuters) A Chinese man is eating normally for the first time in 13 years after surgeons replaced his burned esophagus with a segment of his colon, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

"It is unbelievable that I can eat with my mouth again," it quoted E Aiguo as saying with tears in his eyes, after slurping down a full bowl of noodles cooked by his wife.

E, a 37-year-old laborer from the northeastern city of Shenyang, accidentally drank half a bottle of caustic soda 13 years ago, scorching his esophagus and destroying his ability to swallow, Xinhua said.

He has survived by pushing food through a tube inserted directly into his stomach, but has lost 40 percent of his body weight. Weak and miserable, he entered the No. 202 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army last month, it said.

Doctors snipped a 40-cm-long (16-inch-long) segment of E's colon and grafted it into his throat to replace the scalded esophagus.

"The colon-made esophagus could not function like a real esophagus, but it enables the patient to eat in a normal way," Xinhua quoted surgeon Tong Wei as saying.

Doctors have scheduled a follow-up operation to fit E with a new epiglottis to improve his ability to swallow. Xinhua did not say where the new cartilage would come from.

-- Colon Power (@ .), November 17, 2000

Answers

That is great, at least the dude can eat.

Did Anyone ever read the novel "The HY FY Murders?" it took place in a family owned store (true story) which was robbed and the family members were shot and FORCED to drink draino, which is of course very caustic.

It was a very sad book and a terrible crime. Burnt up the throat of the son.

I wanna say it happened in Utah, but I really cant remember, anyone else?

-- (shh@aooooo.com), November 17, 2000.


Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase:

"Dude, your breath smells like shit!"

Is it Friday yet??

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), November 17, 2000.


Or...'Dude, your tonsils look like roids'

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), November 17, 2000.

This was nice work. Medicine as maintenence is kind of boring but when it can change someone's life its kind of neat. As for the epigllotis I suspect Mr. Aiguo (Chinese?) will soon be missing an ear. Best wishes to him.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), November 17, 2000.

I know squat about biology. Hasn't stopped me from posting before, so...

Would cartilage be less likely to be rejected by the body if it were from another person than other tissue? I can see organs needing to be matched, but isn't cartilage pretty inert, so to speak? My guess is a cadaver may be the one missing an ear.

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), November 17, 2000.



You're quite right Rich. Still if it was my choice, and I lived in China, I'd give up the ear. They've plenty of cadavers but imagine the waiting list to get it redone.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), November 18, 2000.

I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot tongue depresser.

-- (nemesis.@awol.com), November 19, 2000.

The epiglottis is vital for proper function. It closes to separate the lung passage form the stomach. My father had cancer surgery two years ago. His epiglottis did not fully close after the surgery and he got water in his lungs. He died of pneumonia 33 days later.

Lets hope Xinhua gets one that works.

-- John Littmann (littmannj@aol.com), November 20, 2000.


A very dear old friend of mine had serious skin cancers {he was a redheaded ocean & sailing fanatic - born in the teens, too early to know about sun protection when it would've mattered most}.

George had an ear removed & replaced with one that looked to be of plastic or rubber. He lived on enthusiastically for years, & that was not the cancer which ended up stealing his life from him.

-- flora (***@__._), November 20, 2000.


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