Thursday, January 18, 2007

MADRID, Spain (AFP): A Spanish newspaper reported on Wednesday what it said were fresh details about Fidel Castro's health, saying the treatment given to the ailing 80-year-old Cuban leader had unleashed serious complications.

"Castro suffered intestinal hemorrhaging last summer and a severe infection caused by inflammation of the large intestine," a condition called diverticulitis, the daily El Pais said.

The paper quoted medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, where the Cuban leader's Spanish doctor, Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, works.

In serious cases of diverticulitis, surgeons remove the infected part of the colon, although they have two options for doing this.

The first is ileostomy, under which the surgeons take the small intestine to the abdominal wall, allowing fecal material to be collected by a bag, which the patient wears on the outside of his abdomen.

The advantage is that the large intestine, after being stitched back together, is allowed to heal without being disturbed by intestinal transit.

But the technique also requires a second operation so that after the colon heals, the bag is taken away and intestinal transit continues as before.

"Castro and his entourage, according to medical sources close to the case, refused this option," due to the inconvenience of the bag and also the necessity of a second operation, El Pais said.

Castro, who, "takes an interest in even the smallest details of his medical treatments", and his entourage preferred a second option which does not require a second operation.

This option consists, after the removal of the affected part of the large intestine, of joining the upper part of this organ to the rectum.

But in Castro's case, the technique did not work properly. Problems occurred with the joining of the large intestine and the rectum and a split occurred that released faecal material into the abdominal cavity, causing a dangerous infection.

On Tuesday, El Pais quoted sources at Gregorio Maranon hospital as saying that Castro was gravely ill following an intestinal infection and three failed operations. However, the report was later dismissed by Garcia Sabrido.

After returning from Havana on December 26, Garcia Sabrido stated that Castro did not have cancer, as had been rumoured, and was making a steady recovery. He declined to be more specific, citing medical confidentiality.

There has been mounting speculation over the condition of Castro, who has not been seen in public since being taken ill in July. Last week, a US intelligence chief said Castro was terminally ill and may have only days to live.

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