BOSTON, Massachusetts - Surgeons at Children’s Hospital Boston performed a serial transverse enteroplasty (STEP) bowel lengthening and tapering procedure on a pediatric patient with short bowel syndrome (SBS) during a live webcast. The Webcast is part of Children’s ongoing effort to bring its pioneering care and technology to specialists and referring physicians around the world and allow consumers to see the latest and most innovative medical treatments available.
Serial Transverse Enteroplasty Procedure
SBS is a potentially deadly disorder caused by the loss of part of the small bowel as a result of certain diseases. The most common diseases are: necrotizing enterocolitis, an acquired disease of usually premature newborns, intestinal atresia, a failure of development of a portion of the intestine, and intestinal volvulus, which occurs when the bowel gets twisted and the blood supply is impaired.
The STEP procedure that Drs. Kim and Jaksic evolved is based on the idea that stapling and dividing the bowel transversely on alternating sides across the mesentery of the bowel will decrease its width and increase its length. Subsequent dilatation of the lengthened bowel may further enhance intestinal absorptive area.
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