He papa Francisco86 years old, and who yesterday morning had undergone medical check-ups, returned to the Gemelli Polyclinic of Romewhere he underwent surgery this followingnoon for a occlusion intestinal, that is, a blockage that does not allow food or liquid to pass through the intestine, caused by a hernia incisional incarcerada.

In July 2021, the Supreme Pontiff, 86 years old, spent 10 days in that same hospital for a bowel operation, in which 33 centimeters of colon were removed. Although soon following Francisco told that he was recovered and that he might eat normally, in a recent interview with The Associated Press who gave in January, the religious stated that his intestinal diverticula had “come back”.f

A hernia, he explains Fabio Nachman, Head of the Gastroenterology Service of the Favaloro Foundation University Hospital and former President of the Argentine Society of Gastroenterology, It is the exit of a viscera through the abdominal muscle wall.

“In this case, surely what happened, as I know that he was operated on for diverticular obstruction, is that the Pope had a hernia through the muscular incision where they accessed in the last operation and evidently the intestinal loops remained (a section of the intestine thin) caught in that hole. This entrapment does not allow the loops to be reintroduced into the abdominal cavity and this can cause abdominal obstruction”, indicates the specialist.

Ramiro Heredia He is a clinical doctor at the Hospital de Clínicas and explains that a hernia of these characteristics is a potentially serious condition. “In an 86-year-old patient, with the publicly known medical history of the Pope, major and urgent surgery such as an incarcerated or stuck incisional hernia is a potentially serious condition. In these pathologies there is a stoppage of normal intestinal transit because a portion of the intestine gets into a hole, in this case, generated during a previous surgery. This leads to the dilation of the intestine that is above the blockage, which can cause pain and abdominal distension, nausea, vomiting, fever, and lack of elimination of gases and/or fecal matter in some cases, even forms of diarrhea. (less frequent), in others”, argues Heredia.

Regarding the intervention, Heredia explains that a stuck or incarcerated hernia is a surgical emergency, which requires general anesthesia, orotracheal intubation and respiratory support during the procedure. “An incision is made, the affected intestine is visualized, and it is evaluated how vital the blocked intestine is. Once released from that imprisonment, it is seen how he recovers, or not. If it does not recover its normal vitality, the surgeon may be forced to resect that devitalized portion of intestine, and have to reattach the other portions. After the closure and repair of the abdominal wall, often with a mesh, which is a special prosthesis that provides resistance to the tissues, ”describes the specialist.

“The Holy Father, at the end of the general audience, went to the Gemelli polyclinic, where in the early hours of the followingnoon will undergo, under general anesthesia, a laparotomy and plastic surgery of the abdominal wall with a prosthesis”, the papal spokesman, Matteo Bruni, had announced following 10 in the morning in Rome.

“The operation, arranged in recent days by the medical team that assists the Holy Father, became necessary due to a incarcerated incisional hernia which is causing recurrent painful and progressive sub-occlusive syndromes”, added the director of the Press Room, in a statement.

“Hospitalization in the health structure will last several days to allow normal post-operative evolution and full functional recovery,” he concluded.

This was the Pope’s third hospitalization in two years: At the end of March, he had to be hospitalized urgently for four days due to severe pneumonia, and on July 4, 2021, he underwent surgery for a problem in the intestine, in a scheduled intervention. That time he was hospitalized for ten days at the Gemelli polyclinic.