Dr. William O. Barnett Tribute Part 3

The late Dr. William O. Barnett began making modifications to the Kock pouch in 1979. He had tremendous faith in the concept of the continent reservoir, but was disappointed with the relatively high failure rate regarding the valve. Dr. Barnett was intent on achieving a satisfactory solution to the problem. The first change that he instituted was in the method of construction of the nipple valve. He changed the direction of flow within this segment of intestine, in order to keep the valve in place. This resulted in a much better success rate. In addition, a plastic material called Marlex was utilized to form a collar around the valve. This was designed to further stabilize and support the valve and resulted in less valve slippage. This technique worked very well, but after several years, the intestine reacted to the Marlex with the formation of fistulae (abnormal connections) into the valve. Dr. Barnett continued his investigation in an effort to improve these results. After much effort, the idea came to him – a ‘living collar’ constructed from the small intestine. This technique not only enhanced the stabilization of the valve, it eliminated the problems associated with the Marlex collar. After a series of over 300 patients, Dr. Barnett relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida where he joined the staff of Palms of Pasadena Hospital. Dr. Barnett’s goal was to train other surgeons to perform the Continent Intestinal Reservoir. With the assistance of Dr. James Pollack, the …