Cleveland Clinic says it has become the first health system in Ohio to perform a highly specialized surgery for complex abdominal tumors that involves temporarily removing and then re-implanting a patient’s small intestine.
The procedure, called ex vivo intestinal auto-transplantation, is performed at only a small number of centers worldwide.
Doctors used the technique on a 38-year-old woman with a large, advanced tumor surrounding a major artery in her abdomen. The tumor could not be safely removed through traditional surgery.
During the operation, surgeons removed the tumor, the head of the pancreas and the entire small intestine as one unit. The tumor was then removed outside the body, blood vessels were reconstructed, and the patient’s own intestine was re-implanted.
Cleveland Clinic says the approach can give carefully selected patients another treatment option while avoiding the need for a donor organ and lifelong anti-rejection medication.
After recovering from the surgery and additional procedures, the patient has returned home and is doing well.
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