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   Doctors perform tracheotomy on pope

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Topic: Doctors perform tracheotomy on pope (Read 269 times)

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Doctors perform tracheotomy on pope
« on: Feb 24^th, 2005, 3:01pm »

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VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Hours after Pope John Paul II was hospitalized with a recurrence of the flu, doctors late Thursday performed a tracheotomy to ease the ailing pontiff's breathing, a Vatican source said.

The Italian news agency AGI said the operation, an incision into the windpipe to aid breathing, took about 30 minutes.

An official statement was expected within a few hours.

A Polish priest close to the pope, interviewed on Polish TVN television during its 7 p.m. newscast, sought to reassure viewers.

"This is not a terminal illness," Father Conrad Hejno, a Dominican friar, said from Rome.

He added that people should "get used to" the fact the pope may be taken periodically to the hospital.

The pope, who was rushed to hospital by ambulance Thursday, is believed to be suffering a recurrence of the flu that forced him to be hospitalized for 10 days earlier this month.

Officials said the pontiff had suffered fresh breathing difficulties and had a fever.

A tracheotomy is a routine operation that typically requires general anesthesia, but it is not typically the first line of therapy in such a situation, said CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Placement of an endotracheal tube -- a tube down the throat -- is usually tried first, he said.

"It could be that the area of the trachea between where the incision would be and the mouth is too inflamed," he said.

The Vatican said the 84-year-old pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had a relapse of the flu and was taken to Gemelli hospital at 10:45 a.m. (0945 GMT) for "specialist treatment and further checks."

A hospital security guard said he was conscious and resting on a partly raised stretcher when he arrived by ambulance.

CNN Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher said there was concern in the Vatican that the pope's illness had returned within two weeks of his leaving hospital. Catholics had gathered in St. Peter's square to pray for him, she said.

"Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday February 23, the Holy Father had a relapse of the flu symptoms which he had already suffered in previous weeks," the Vatican statement said.

"For this reason, the pope was taken this morning to the Agostino Gemelli hospital for the opportune specialist care and further checks," it added.

The pope failed Thursday morning to attend a scheduled meeting on new candidates for sainthood.

Vatican sources said the pontiff had hoped until the last minute to attend the ceremony in the frescoed Clementia Hall meters from his private study in the Apostolic Palace.

Cardinals and bishops were gathered in the hall awaiting him, but when his condition became serious, his secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, presided in his place.

The Vatican played down the seriousness of the hospitalization, saying a patient of the pope's age is always at risk from the flu. Rome has been particularly cold, wet and windy in recent days.

The pope has twice appeared at his open studio window since his earlier hospitalization.

As recently as Sunday, John Paul II read his weekly address to the faithful Sunday in a relatively strong voice, 10 days after being released from a hospital where he was treated for breathing difficulties.

The pontiff read the brief message from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. He stopped briefly to cough but had no other apparent problems.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers said it was not clear how serious the pope's relapse was. John Paul gave a "virtual general audience" Wednesday, appearing to pilgrims via video link to huge TV screens in St Peter's Square.

Rodgers says his voice was husky and gravelly but he appeared alert and vigorous, waving to pilgrims with "surprising strength and vigor for a man 84 years old and quite infirm." (Full story)

This week a book by the pope was launched, "Memory and Identity," in which he said that homosexual marriages were part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society.

In the book, he also called abortion a "legal extermination" comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century. (Full story)

The pope suffers from a number of chronic ailments: as well as Parkinson's disease he has crippling hip and knee ailments, has undergone nine operations -- including a hip replacement -- and survived an assassination attempt.

His latest illness reopened debate about whether popes should retire instead of reigning for life. No pope has abdicated since the 15th century and John Paul repeatedly has said he intends to carry out his mission until the end. (Full story)

The debate was fueled when the Vatican's No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, declined to rule out that possibility, saying it was up to the pope's "conscience."

John Paul II was discharged from a Rome hospital February 10 after checking in for breathing problems.

"The acute laryngeal tracheitis that was the reason for urgently admitting the Holy Father to the hospital has healed. The improvement of his general conditions continues favorably," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said at the time.

Another cardinal told a newspaper Saturday that the pontiff was fully able to make decisions and that he would probably be able to travel to Cologne, Germany, in August for World Youth Day.

"I am in fact sure that ... he will continue to have the real capacity to work. ... That is expressed not only in his speeches but in the decisions that are taken," Cardinal Camillo Ruini told La Repubblica.

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Re: Doctors perform tracheotomy on pope
« Reply #1 on: Feb 26^th, 2005, 8:30pm »