Kim Kardashian wasn’t ready to say yes to esophageal surgery.
On the latest episode of The Kardashians, Kim shared that she sought a second opinion at the UCLA Robert G. Kardashian Center for Esophageal Health after a doctor recommended removing an irregular area in her esophagus. She had previously been diagnosed with esophagitis, or inflammation of the esophagus.
“Because of my dad’s experience, my sisters and I have opened the Robert Kardashian Esophageal Health Center at UCLA,” she said in a confessional, according to People. “The irony of this all — the fact that I helped to put together this building, never knowing that I would need it.”
Related story
Kim Kardashian Says She’s ‘Co-Parenting’ With Kanye West Through Bianca Censori
Her father, Robert Kardashian, died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at 59, just eight weeks after his diagnosis.
A Second Opinion Changed the Plan
Before agreeing to surgery, Kim consulted a doctor at UCLA who recommended trying medication first.
“He said, ‘I think that doctor’s being a little aggressive. I would test out medication for eight weeks first, and then we do another endoscopy,’” she recalled. “I mean the last thing I wanna do is have surgery on my esophagus. That’s really scary to me. But I’ll do whatever I’ve gotta do.”
Kim said she had to take the medication “up to 25 minutes before I eat,” which made the schedule “inconvenient.” She kept taking it, then returned to UCLA weeks later with her mom, Kris Jenner, to find out whether the inflammation had improved.
What the Follow-Up Could Tell Her
An upper endoscopy lets doctors examine the esophagus, stomach, and beginning of the small intestine using a thin, flexible tube with a camera. According to UCLA Health, doctors can use it to assess inflammation in the esophagus and take tissue samples to help identify its cause. Treatment depends on what’s causing the inflammation.
For Kim, the follow-up was a chance to see whether medication had changed the recommendation for surgery. She said she was there to “see if the esophagitis has gotten worse or better with the medication they gave me.”
“I’m hopeful,” she said. “It is what it is. They’re either gonna say, ‘Hey, the irregularities have not gone away from the medication, and you need to have a piece of your esophagus removed.’ Or, they’re gonna say, ‘The medication worked and you don’t need the procedure and just continue on this medication.’”
