Esophageal Replacement

A 4 year old baby presented to us with a history of caustic soda ingestion 3 years ago. The had caused narrowing of the whole of the esophagus (food pipe). A feeding gastrostomy was done with the help of whish the baby was fed through a pipe surgically inserted in the stomach. He underwent a surgery at 3 years of age to replace the food pipe in a hospital in Jodhpur but was unsuccessful. The father roamed to a multiple hospitals for treatment but was refused as the case was very complicated. He came to us in Narayana Health Bangalore where he underwent esophageal replacement surgery where the food pipe was replaced by pulling the stomach upto the neck and suturing it to the remnant healthy foodpipe (Gastric Transposition). The surgery went on well and ten days later the boy started taking feeds orally after a period of almost 3 years.

It cannot be adequately emphasized that children should be kept away from strong chemicals and sharp objects. In case there is trauma due to these objects, timely consultation with a Pediatric surgeon can help in minimising damage caused by the trauma.