Special surgery: Using colon to replace esophagus for cancer patient

(Dan Tri) - A 51-year-old male patient who had his esophagus removed to treat cancer 6 years ago now has stomach cancer. The doctor removed the entire stomach tube and reconstructed the esophagus using a section of the patient's colon.

On September 4, Hanoi Oncology Hospital announced that a special, highly difficult surgery was successfully performed. Doctors removed the entire stomach tube and reconstructed the esophagus using a colon segment for a 51-year-old male patient who had previously undergone esophagectomy to treat cancer.

Previously, in 2019, the male patient was treated for stage 3 esophageal cancer at Bach Mai Hospital, received radical chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and had surgery to remove the esophagus, remove lymph nodes, and create an esophageal reconstruction using a gastric tube.

During a recent examination at Hospital 198, the patient was found to have a malignant lesion in the gastric tube - the location that had previously been used to create the food tract.

Pathology results confirmed signet ring cell carcinoma of the gastric tube - a rapidly progressing, difficult to treat form of cancer.

At Hanoi Oncology Hospital, the patient was diagnosed with cT3N0M0 gastric cancer on the basis of previous treatment for esophageal cancer.

Image of gastric tube damage on computed tomography (Photo: Hospital provided).

Dr. Le Van Thanh, Deputy Director of the hospital, Head of the General Surgery Department, said that after consultation, the proposed plan was to remove the entire gastric tube, radical lymph node dissection, and reconstruct the esophagus using the patient's left colon.

According to Dr. Thanh, this is a complex surgical technique. Creating a feeding tract using the colon not only requires ensuring the length and good blood circulation of the graft but also taking into account factors related to the anatomical structure that has been changed due to the previous surgery.

During the surgery, doctors brought the colon up into the chest and neck to connect it to the remaining part of the esophagus, completely replacing the digestive function of the removed stomach.

The colon is lifted up to create an esophagus (Photo: Provided by the hospital).

After surgery, the patient recovered well, ate again soon, was stable and was discharged after 8 days of inpatient treatment.

Dr. Thanh said that the surgery not only helps to completely remove the cancerous mass but also maintains the patient's natural eating and digestion functions, avoiding the need for intestinal surgery or the use of long-term alternative nutrition methods. This is a key factor in improving the quality of life after cancer treatment.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/ca-mo-dac-biet-dung-dai-trang-thay-thuc-quan-cho-benh-nhan-ung-thu-20250904120837427.htm