Ahmad Al Mansouri with his baby. The congenital malformation of the intestine led to perforation of the small bowel, filling the baby’s whole abdomen with fluid. Courtesy: Danat Al Emarat Hospital
Abu Dhabi: Surgeons in the capital have successfully treated an Emirati newborn suffering from a rare congenital malformation of the intestine, doctors said on Saturday.
The case was diagnosed at the Foetal Medicine Unit of Danat Al Emarat Hospital, during the 34th week of gestation, and the baby was delivered a few days later due to progressive worsening in the unborn baby’s condition.
The newborn’s rare case is considered the first in the UAE and the third published case worldwide, the hospital said.
The condition led to perforation of the small bowel, filling his whole abdomen with fluid and was life-threatening and a four-hour urgent surgery was performed.
Dr Raja Cingapagu, paediatric surgeon at Danat Al Emarat Hospital, who performed the surgery along with a surgical team from various specialities, said: “During the surgery, the defective bowel, which was 15cm long, was resected. The healthy bowels were reconnected to each other and the abdominal cavity was cleared.”
Dr Cingapagu also revealed that the surgery was considered complex for a number of reasons, including the fact that the case was extremely rare, the baby was premature and there was so much fluid in his abdominal cavity. “This case is complex, rare, the first of its kind in the UAE and the third of its kind in the world according to medical references. The first case took place in 1979, and the second in 2005 in France,” he said.
“A number of tests were done to the newborn to identify the reason for the increased accumulation of fluid in the abdomen and huge abdominal distension. However, various scans did not show the exact problem of the intestine as the abdominal was covered with fluid. An emergency surgery was decided, which lasted for four hours during which the birth defect was identified as an intestinal tubular duplication cyst 15cm long of the small bowel, which led to twisted bowel and perforation during the late gestational period leading to fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity,” he added.
The baby’s father, Ahmad Saeed Al Mansouri, said he was delighted with the success of the surgery. “The medical team was able to diagnose my son’s case before birth and they are known for their competency. I did not consider having it performed abroad because it was a rare urgent case.”
“The capabilities of our medical multidisciplinary team at Danat Al Emarat Hospital are evident in managing rare and complex cases. The newborn was treated in a timely manner in the hospital’s level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Paediatric Surgery Department led by a team of internationally trained physicians,” said Mohammad Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, CEO of United Eastern Medical Services.
“The development of a comprehensive scope of medical services, including fetal medicine, paediatrics and neonatology, paediatric surgery along with an advanced neonatal intensive care unit led by an experienced medical team are all essential in caring for high-risk pregnancies, rare cases, sick newborns and premature babies,” he added.
