KIMSHEALTH Endoscopy Enables Throat-cancer Survivor Eat Food Through Mouth

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Doctors at KIMSHEALTH undertook an endoscopic procedure to cure the oesophageal shrinkage a middle-aged woman suffered following throat cancer, making it a rare kind of medical treatment anywhere in the country.

The 53-year-old patient had to undergo a radiation of her throat in 2019 as part of her treatment for cancer. The procedure led to shrinkage of her food-pipe, incapacitating her intake of solid food. Subsequently she could not gulp down even water, necessitating consumption of food through a drill in the stomach and connecting it with an artificial pipe to the intestines directly.

Two years thence, the patient approached KIMSHEALTH in the state capital. The super-specialty hospital found the need for a treatment involving endoscopy through the mouth and stomach. “It’s a delicate surgery that requires immense care,” said KIMSHEALTH gastroenterologist Dr. Madhu Sasidharan, who carried out the two-hour endoscopy that widened the food-pipe through a procedure named Combined Anterograde & Retrograde Dilatation.

“For two years, the patient had been consuming food without knowing the taste. She has now begun eating food through mouth.” said Dr Madhu Sasidharan. “It’s really a happy development.”

Besides Dr. Madhu Sasidharan, the doctors who led the endoscopy were Dr. Ajith K. Nair, Dr. Harish Kareem and Dr. Arun P.