Couldn't eat and lost a lot of weight: in Lviv, a robot surgeon helped save the life of a 6-year-old girl
Kyiv • UNN
In Lviv, a unique surgery was performed on a 6-year-old girl with Wilkie syndrome who had lost 4 kg due to her inability to eat. Thanks to a robot surgeon, doctors created a workaround for food, which saved the child's life.
Polina Bidyuk from Starokonstantinov, Khmelnytsky Oblast, was diagnosed with a rare disease called Wilkie syndrome, which is diagnosed in only one patient in a thousand and almost killed the child. The girl could not eat and lost 14 kilograms in a few weeks. Polina's life was saved by specialists at St. Nicholas Children's Hospital of the First Medical Association in Lviv, who performed the surgery with the help of a robot surgeon.
This was reported by UNN with reference to Lviv City Council.
According to the doctors, one evening Polina started vomiting right after eating. Her frightened parents called an ambulance. At first, the district hospital suspected that she had appendicitis.
However, after the examination, the little patient was immediately referred to the Khmelnytsky Regional Hospital. There, the specialists diagnosed a rare disease - Wilkie's syndrome. In simple words, it is a complicated intestinal obstruction.
The essence of this syndrome is that the superior mesenteric artery, one of the largest vessels in the body, compresses the duodenum, through which the food we consume passes
Usually, patients with Wilkie syndrome are treated with medications. However, in Polinka's case, they did not work. Moreover, the aorta and mesenteric artery flattened her intestine like tweezers. The girl vomited at every meal and in a few weeks lost weight from 18 kilograms to 14. She needed immediate surgery.
To reduce possible risks, Lviv specialists decided to operate with the help of the Da Vinci Si robot surgeon. The duodenum is located in a critical area that connects the stomach to the small intestine. And around it are the pancreas, liver vessels, and biliary tract. And there is a risk of hitting them. And the robotic system allows surgeons to act as accurately as possible
During the two-hour operation, doctors reportedly “shortened” the path of food to the small intestine bypassing the compression site. They took a loose loop of intestine and connected it to the top of the duodenum. And although it is still constricted by the mesenteric artery and aorta, food now freely enters the small intestine - so to speak, bypassing the site of compression.
Now Polina is recovering rapidly from the surgery, eating well again and regaining her weight.
