Mali: 1st mission on caustic esophageal burns

Chaîne de l’Espoir, in close collaboration with Mali Hospital in Bamako, is organizing a reconstructive surgery mission focusing on caustic burns of the esophagus from March 30 to April 20, 2019.

Caustic burns of the esophagus are a scourge, a public health problem and a widely underestimated cause of infant mortality. Caustic soda is a substance widely used in West Africa for dyeing clothes, making artisanal soap, and hairdressing. These activities are carried out at home, mainly by households with very modest incomes. The form in which soda ash appears (crystals or odorless, colorless liquid) means that it is often mistaken for foodstuffs by young children, who ingest it by accident. The ingestion of corrosive substances causes irreversible and extremely painful lesions which prevent children from eating, or else with a gastric tube connected directly to the stomach.

A team mobilized to care for fifteen young patients

The French medical team on this mission comprises a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, Pr Pascal Alexandre Thomas (on site from April 14), an endoscopist, Dr Stéphanie Heulhard de Montigny, and an IBODE nurse, Mme Stéphanie Hurstel. She accompanies Pr Sadio Yéna, head of the cardio thoracic and vascular surgery department at Mali Hospital, and his team. Prof. Yéna has been involved for many years in the prevention of accidental soda ingestions and the development of care for child victims. He is widely recognized in the sub-region.

Some fifteen young patients, including two children from Guinea Conakry, will receive esophageal replacement surgery (oesocoloplasty) or, for less severe sequelae, endoscopic esophageal dilatation.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir aims to develop a comprehensive, long-term program in this specialty for all the countries in the sub-region , including surgical care, training of healthcare personnel, prevention and awareness-raising.

Just recently, an identical mission took place at the Hôpital Mère-Enfant de Bingerville in Côte d’Ivoire, during which 14 children, including children from the sub-region, underwent surgery.