Doctors from the General Surgery Department at Rashid Hospital succeeded in removing a rare 33cm tumour from the abdomen of an African expat.
Dr Omar Al Marzouqi, General Surgery Consultant at Rashid Hospital, says the expat, who is in his twenties, was admitted to the hospital after suffering from pain and bloating in his abdomen for more than a month.
“After conducting the needed medical tests we found that he has a large tumour, so we immediately prepped him to enter the operation theatre. The surgery took more than four hours. We were successfully able to remove the tumour and test it in the lab, where we found that the patient suffered from a rare intra-abdominal tumour called mesenteric cyst (cavernous type).”
According to international published studies, a mesenteric cyst is a benign intra-abdominal tumour with an incidence of one case per 250,000 hospital admissions.
Dr Al Marzouqi says that due to its rarity, the symptoms and causes are unknown and so they are usually discovered by accident or during an abdominal radiological examination.
“We have come across a few cases of mesenteric cysts at the hospital but we have never seen a tumour this big. It was around 33cm long and 25cm wide. Since he had it for a whole month, it became attached to his colon, small bowel as well as his main arteries and veins, which made the extraction very complicated but with Allah’s grace we were able to successfully remove it.”
Dr Al Marzouqi adds that the surgery was a success and that the patient was discharged in full health after two weeks of treatment.
Dr Ali Khammas, General Surgery Consultant and Head of the General Surgery Department, says Rashid Hospital is fully equipped to remove all kinds of tumours thanks to its highly sophisticated technologies and the skilled doctors working in the department.
Dr Khammas adds that the General Surgery Department at Rashid Hospital offers a number of specialised services under its umbrella that includes: the Bariatric Centre, GI Oncology Centre, acute trauma care, Hernia Clinic for complicated surgeries, wound centre — which is the biggest in the northern emirates and has succeeded in preventing many cases of amputation — and proctology.
