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A 14 year old patient underwent an esophageal achalasia surgery in 1954 at the Nicosia General Hospital, according to that time's medical protocols.

The patient had since then been unable to take food for as long as 63 years, and the difficulty in swallowing has made him push food with special movements.

A month ago, the patient could not be fed and underwent an unsuccessful gastroscopy due to the inability of the gastroscope to enter the stomach, as the lower esophagus was heavily narrowed and presented a large prosthetic dilation.

On August 4, 2017, the patient underwent a pioneering for the Cyprus medical word surgery, during which the adhesions were initially cleaned laparoscopically, following the removal of the lower part of the esophagus and a small part of the stomach.  Subsequently, a Laparoscopic Catheter-Esophageal Anastomosis was performed.

The patient can now eat normally and feels blessed that after 63 years he no longer suffers and can feed like all his fellow humans.

Do not hesitate to contact me for any further information.

Here-below follows a testimony from the patient and his wife.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Yiannis P. Ioannou
General Surgeon - Laparoscopic and Biariatric Surgery
MD, FACS, FASMBS

''Since the age of 7 my husband has suffered from a problem in his esophagus.  After many years of suffering and having tests he was operated on, at the Nicosia General Hospital in 1954.  The operation was not very successful as it was the first time something like it had been attempted in Cyprus.

For the following 65 years of his life, my husband suffered with an inability to always move the food through his esophagus and sphincter.  Things became progressively worse in the last few years, with the need to vomit to bring up food that would not pass through to this stomach, increasing all the time.  On many occasions, he went without food as it was too difficult to manage.

In August this year, this culminated in a complete close down of the sphincter and no food or water could pass through.  Ultimately, we sought help from a gastroenterologist, who on examination immediately referred my husband to the Polyclinic as he considered no doctor at the Limassol General Hospital could have helped him.

We were very lucky to fall into the hands of Dr. Ioannou, a specialist in this area.  He consulted with other doctors and it was decided to operate as soon as possible, as my husband was malnourished and very weak.  Dr. Ioannou decided to try to operate through laparoscopic surgery.  There were a few things considered as a problem:

• My husband’s age (77 yearls old).
• His condition of malnutrition and weakness.
• The previous operation could lead to complications.

On 4 August 2017, Dr. Ioannou operation, with other doctors on standby, in case it was necessary to open the chest area and proceed that way.  The operation went very well and Dr. Ioannou managed to remove 6cms of esophagus and 2cms of stomach, pulling stomach higher into the chest and re-attaching it to the shortened esophagus.

Dr. Ioannou did a fantastic job and without his experience and skill in this area, my husband would likely not have recovered.  He is now daily improving in his health.  Finally, he is able to enjoy the simplest pleasure of drinking a glass of water in one go, for the first time in his life!  Eating food is easier daily and he is recovering very well.

We would like to thank our doctor and would highly recommend him.  He has saved my husband’s life and given him a far better quality of life than previously.

Our warmest regards,

J and D Michael.