BROTHERLY LOVE

The bond between blood brothers is extremely strong. Yet, rarely is the strength of the fraternal relationship tested to the limit of making a life saving sacrifice. A 13 year old Swiss boy donated 160 cm of ileum to his identical twin brother whose distal duodenum had been anastomosed to his transverse colon after massive resectional surgery for volvulus. Post- operative progress is very clearly documented and, by the observed standards, the outcome was generally successful. Doubtless the lack of need for immunosuppression was a great advantage. Plenty of data on physiology and chemistry. Hopefully the lack of data on psychological outcomes means there weren’t any adverse experiences in that department

See page 659

BARRETT’S—A FISH DISH

Curiously, the greater the research effort in Barrett’s oesophagus, the less we seem to understand. Truly an area in which the accumulation of knowledge ends up raising more questions than seem to be answered. Readers are invited to judge for themselves whether a …