ANCIENT MEDICAL PRACTICES

The incidence of Clostridium difficile infection ( CDI ) has risen sharply over the last two decades . Human stool transplants have been found to consistently cure up to 90 percent of patients who have had multiple episodes of C . difficile , an infection which causes serious diarrhea and affects about 3 million people per year . These days , fecal transplants are done either by colonoscopy or by a tube that runs through the nose into the stomach , but a new study published in JAMA shows that there may be a less invasive — and equally effective — route by way of a pill .

Transsphenoidal surgery is a minimally-invasive procedure where surgeons access the brain through the nose to remove tumors . According to Raj Sindwani , an otolaryngologist with Cleveland Clinic , the practice has been done for thousands of years , with the ancient Egyptians having discovered that the easiest access point to the brain was through the nose .

© Terese Winslow

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