"Thank you to the Chest Hospital for giving me a second life. Now I not only have a healthy life, but also gain happiness. I really feel very lucky..." A few days ago, deputy director of the thoracic surgery department and esophageal subsurgery department of Shanghai Chest Hospital Li Zhigang, director of the department, received a special wedding photo.
It is hard to imagine that Mr. Li, the groom with a bright smile in the photo, was completely unable to eat five years ago and once lost the courage to live. When he was desperate, Director Li Zhigang's team used the superb technique of free jejunal interposition to reconstruct the digestive tract and reconstructed his life artery. This is the first patient successfully treated with this technology since the establishment of the esophageal subspecialty of the Chest Hospital.
"I would rather die than live like this..." The time went back to 5 years ago, when Mr. Li was only an 18-year-old boy. Due to severe chemical injury to the esophagus, he underwent gastric esophageal replacement surgery at a local hospital. Unexpectedly, the operation failed. Not only did it fail to cure his esophageal injury, it also caused his digestive tract to become "disjointed" and unable to eat.
Will I have to rely on infusion of nutrient solution for the rest of my life? When Li Zhigang received the doctor, the young man was depressed and already too thin to be human. "Don't be discouraged, it can be cured! We will help you connect the esophagus." After careful evaluation and multidisciplinary discussion, the esophageal surgery team formulated a surgical plan of "free jejunum interposition to reconstruct the digestive tract". When they learned that there was hope for treatment, Mr. Li's family was so excited that their eyes filled with tears.
As early as 1976, Professor Huang Oulin, the founder of the Department of Chest Hospital, led the team to complete China's first case of free jejunal interposition cervical digestive tract reconstruction + microvascular anastomosis. This type of surgery intercepts a section of jejunum and transplants it to the incomplete esophagus, which can maintain the anatomical integrity and physiological functions of the upper gastrointestinal tract to the greatest extent, allowing patients to obtain a better quality of life. However, the operation is very difficult. In addition to completing the reconstruction of the digestive tract, it is also necessary to complete a delicate vascular anastomosis to ensure the survival of the transplanted jejunum. For example, if our esophagus is compared to an apple tree, the intercepted jejunum is a "peach branch". Doctors need to graft the "peach branch" onto the apple tree to ensure its nutrient supply and allow it to continue to grow. .
"This is a classic and complex surgical technique that not only requires extremely high technical requirements for the surgeon, but also requires very tacit teamwork. Our hospital has extensively carried out and accumulated rich clinical experience, and is very good at treating localized neck surgery. It has unique advantages in the treatment of benign and malignant esophageal diseases such as segmental esophageal cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer and esophageal cancer refractory stenosis of the cervical anastomosis after surgery," said Director Li Zhigang.
