abstract |
A surgical apparatus has a body portion that includes a shaft (7) terminating in a distal head or tip (8) and a means for directing light radiation (10) from the apparatus (6) onto the lining of a body cavity (5) for treating a gastrointestinal ailment of a patient including gastritis, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastric cancer, gastric lymphoma, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn's disease. The method of use of the apparatus comprises inserting the shaft (7) of the apparatus (6) into a body cavity (5), e.g. stomach or colon, of the patient to place the distal tip of the shaft (7) in the desired position. The body cavity (5) of the patient is then irradiated with ultraviolet light radiation in a preferred range of about 250 nm to 270 nm so as to kill or debilitate microorganisms lining the body cavity (5) without serious destruction of the body tissue of the patient to thereby improve or alleviate one or more of the symptoms of the gastrointestinal ailment. A probiotic comprising innocuous bacteria can then be administered to the patient to reestablish the growth of normal microbial flora. |