News & Politics - Pope To Undergo Tracheotomy

Indian Summer · 02-24-2005, 01:47 PM

Quote:

CHICAGO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Possible surgery on Pope John Paul's throat to help him breathe indicates there is an emergency and his advanced age could complicate his recovery, a U.S. doctor who specializes in illnesses of the elderly said on Thursday.

"People who get a tracheotomy means it's an emergency, because they're having difficulty breathing," said Dr. Dan Brauner, a gerontologist at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

"They may have tried to intubate him unsuccessfully," he added.

Italian media said the Pope had been taken to an operating room at Rome's Gemelli hospital, and doctors were considering performing a tracheotomy in which a small opening is cut into the neck and the windpipe so air can flow directly into the lungs.

Another report said the Pope's throat was inflamed. For that condition he may receive steroids as well as antibiotics to fight infection, Brauner said.

If the Pope has pneumonia, his Parkinson's disease may prevent him from controlling his throat muscles in order to cough up excess mucus and fluids from his throat and lungs, he said.

The Pope's advanced age, 84, only means he is more fragile.

"Being older means you have more morbidity and mortality associated with this, but he could still recover," Brauner said.

Francis Walker, a physician at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina and a Parkinson's expert said that disease reduces its victims ability to cough and breath in normal volumes.

"You can't generate the force you need to do well," he said. Parkinson's victims "have a great deal of difficulty rolling over in bed," a mechanism that would otherwise help them clear their chest, he added.

The tracheotomy, Walker said, would "shorten the dead space for the air he has to move" to get oxygen to his lungs "so you don't have to breathe as much."

mh67511 · 02-24-2005, 03:30 PM

I'm not a Catholic, but I hope that the operation goes successfully and will help him.

Indian Summer · 02-24-2005, 03:32 PM

Nor am I, but I used to live in Italy. That's about as much as I have in common with the Pople, lol.

The Vatican issued a statement saying the operation was successful.

In Fair Verona · 02-24-2005, 03:45 PM

I heard about this and I'm glad to hear it went well. I'm not Catholic either but the Pope is an inspirational person none the less and it's good to know that everything is well.


Fan Forum > General Discussion > News & Politics > Pope To Undergo Tracheotomy