An incisionless operation to patch stomach ulcers and potentially other perforations in the digestive tract may soon move into human trials at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Clinical investigators reported on their research experience at the 95th annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.
"The problem we're looking at with perforated ulcer disease is that while it is not very frequent, the results for patients have not changed very much despite all the medications we have available to treat the disease," according to coauthor Juliane Bingener, MD, FACS. "Patients who have an ulcer do not do very well." Previous studies have reported that the incidence of severe ulcer disease has held steady despite the widespread use of antibiotics to counter the Helicobacter pylori bacteria linked to peptic ulcer symptoms. Approximately 30,000 Americans have operations for peptic ulcers yearly.
Perforated stomach ulcers typically require an operation to close the tear, but conventional open or minimally invasive surgical procedures can be problematic, particularly in seniors or younger patients with other health problems. The minimally invasive operation requires inflating the body cavity with carbon dioxide to create a large enough workspace for manipulating the surgical probes. This process raises pressure in the peritoneum, or abdominal cavity, and blood pressure with obvious consequences for people with other health problems or older patients. Those same individuals are most vulnerable to problems with the more invasive open-cavity operation.