Two-Year-Old Boy Can Eat Thanks to World-First Surgery Using Magnets newsweek.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsweek.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TORONTO Surgeons at Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) say they have successfully completed a world first in the medical world by using a new procedure to attach the upper and lower portions of the esophagus in a pediatric patient by using magnets. Henryk Deneen was born at 33 weeks and was diagnosed with a birth defect called esophageal atresia, where part of his esophagus is missing. It resulted in doctors inserting a feeding tube when he was just one day old. Children born with esophageal atresia are unable to eat or swallow, and in most cases a surgeon can connect the gap between the upper and lower portions of the organ. In rare cases, a form of the birth defect called “long-gap atresia” can make the distance longer, and surgeons must wait until the baby is at least three months old before attempting to surgically stretch and join the two ends of the esophagus.
TORONTO-Surgeons at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) stated that they have successfully completed a world first in the medical world. They have adopted a new procedure to connect the upper and lower esophagus of pediatric patients with magnets. Henryk Deneen was born at 33 weeks and was diagnosed with a congenital defect called esophageal atresia, that is, part of his esophagus is missing. This caused the doctor to insert a feeding tube when he was only one day old. Children with esophageal atresia cannot eat or swallow. In most cases, surgeons can connect the gap between the upper and lower organs. In rare cases, a congenital defect called “long gap atresia” can make the distance longer, and the surgeon must wait until the baby is at least three months old before attempting to stretch and connect the ends of the esophagus through surgery.