October 7, 2008
Pope may get feeding tube to help regain strength
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II may have to return to the hospital to have a feeding tube inserted because he is having difficulty swallowing, the Italian news agency APcom reported yesterday.
The news agency said no decision had been made and that the feeding tube was one option being considered to help the 84-year-old pope get better nutrition and regain his strength.
Calls to the Vatican spokesman went unanswered yesterday.
Citing an unidentified source, the agency said the pope's doctors were considering the procedure, which involves inserting a feeding tube through the throat and into the stomach. The tube is drawn through the throat then extended from inside the stomach to outside the body through a small incision in the abdomen. Liquid formula is fed through the tube into the stomach, and the tube does not remain in the throat.
The technique - percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, or PEG - was developed in 1979 and is used more than 250,000 times a year in the United States alone.
Pope John Paul has been having trouble swallowing since a tracheotomy tube was inserted in his throat Feb. 24 to help him breathe. He was admitted to the hospital twice in February because of breathing crises.
Earlier yesterday, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that the pope's doctors were considering a new hospitalization next week both to perform tests on the breathing tube and to adjust his diet because of problems swallowing.
Another newspaper, La Repubblica, quoted the pope's Vatican physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, as saying that doctors are "reasonably calm" about the pope's condition.
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