Viet Duc Hospital surgeons reconstruct digestive tract after chemical ingestion

Doctors at Viet Duc University Hospital have successfully performed a complex, two-stage surgical reconstruction to restore the digestive tract of a patient who accidentally ingested toilet cleaner. The chemical ingestion caused severe burns, leading to the total loss of the patient's stomach and complete scarring and narrowing of the natural food passage in the mouth and hypopharynx.

In the first stage, surgeons collaborated with specialists from the National Hospital of ENT to establish a new food passage through the right pyriform sinus. In the second stage, the surgical team used a segment of the colon to reconstruct the esophagus, connecting the upper end to the pyriform sinus and the lower end to the small intestine.

Following nearly two months of surgery and intensive swallowing rehabilitation, the patient has regained the ability to drink water orally and is gradually beginning to eat again.