Czech researchers have invented a device to help patients with diseased or injured gullets swallow food normally, the Mlada fronta Dnes newspaper reported Tuesday.
The device, made by the Hradec Kralove-based ELLA-CS company, allows food to pass easily through the gullet and dissolves by itself after some time.
"We have been testing the product for two years and the results are good," Pavel Pafko, head of a surgical clinic, told the paper.
The gullet stent is used to treat people suffering from tumors, whose gullet tissue has been destroyed by radiation, preventing the patient from receiving food in the normal way, the paper said.
The stent, made of a material similar to absorbable surgical thread, is inserted in the gullet by means of a tube and released, upon which it expands. When the gullet tissue is restored within two to three months, the stent dissolves and is absorbed by the body.
This technology can also be applied in the treatment of diseases of the digestive system.
The Czech patent has been approved for sale throughout the European Union.
Companies in Britain, Spain and Sweden have expressed interest in the device, which is also being exported to Australia and New Zealand.
Source: Xinhua
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