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Perry Poling spent his 70th birthday in an unusual place. he celebrated by stretching out on an operating table.the Oklahoma City patient had wrestled with a difficult decision. he found that his frequent nighttime trips to the kitchen for shots of baking soda and water to relieve heartburn were really ominous warning signs of early stage esophageal cancer.

Poling’s oncologist told him that he probably would be among the one in 10 patients who wouldn’t survive the traditional operation of removing part of the esophagus through an incision in the abdomen.“What am I going to do now?” Poling wondered. “I’ve got a wife to take of. I have seven children that have problems that will probably need my help. What do I do?”And there were those 13 grandchildren who needed their doting granddad.Poling was referred to OU Medical Center, where gastroenterologist Dr. William Tierney had begun using a new technique for early stage esophageal cancer. Tierney said this procedure is incision-free and lower in post-surgical complications, such as infection, that affect some 25 percent of patients who have the traditional surgery.Diagnosis on the riseKiller modern diets and obesity are hitting Americans right in the middle of the chest. Tierney said those are likely factors in the growing epidemic of esophageal cancer, a disease with symptoms sometimes mimicking a heart attack.“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in esophageal cancer in this country,” he said Monday during a news conference at OU Medical Center.the cancer has increased in the past couple of decades by 600 percent.“Esophageal cancer is increasing in this country faster than any other cancer,” Tierney said.the new procedure has been performed about 24 times at OU Medical Center, the state’s only hospital offering it, he said.On Feb. 16, the doctor inserted an endoscope into Poling’s mouth, identified the tumor and lifted it from the esophagus, the body’s long tube running from the mouth to the stomach. he used special instruments to cut out the tumor and then sent a specimen to a pathologist.Afterward, Tierney walked into Poling’s room.“I have a very good birthday present for you. you are clean,” Poling recalls the doctor saying.the cancer was removed, and Poling is now cancer free. he was able to go home the same day and eat birthday cake or whatever else he wanted.“So it was a pretty good present for a 70th birthday,” Poling said.Patients such as Poling need endoscopic evaluations every three months to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned. Tierney cautioned that early detection is key. he said surgery, often along with chemotherapy and radiation, is generally required for patients with advanced esophageal cancer. News Photo Galleriesview all