Dubai: A young Sudanese woman who had a rare life-threatening scar ectopic pregnancy has thanked a Dubai-based gynaecologist and obstetrician for detecting the anomaly in time and saving her life.
Last November, Dana Abdul Majd, 32, was overjoyed to know she was pregnant for the fourth time. As soon as the home test kit showed positive for pregnancy, she reported to Dr Dania Al Bukhari, specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Prime Hospital, within the first five weeks.
‘My uterus was empty’
Dana told Gulf News: “I wanted to see my doctor to seek confirmation of my pregnancy and know everything was fine. As it turned out, early consultation and diagnosis saved my life. In the first few diagnostic tests, Dr Bukhari could not detect the foetus in my uterus.”
Dr Bukhari said: “I suspected something was wrong from the very beginning when I found her uterus was empty. Once her pregnancy test was reconfirmed and we still couldn’t detect the foetus, I asked the patient to undergo a battery of diagnostic tests that helped me diagnose that she had scar ectopic pregnancy.”
Dr Bukhari said early diagnosis and intervention was very crucial to saving the life of the patient. “A scar ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening form of abnormal implantation of embryo within the myometrium and fibrous tissues in a previous scar on the uterus, especially following caesarean section. In Dana’s case, the foetus was growing within this scar. No one knows the exact reason for this. However, the previous C-section scar was there as the mother had undergone previous two Caesarean sections.”
A scar ectopic pregnancy is said to be rare, only found in 2,216 known cases so far.
The doctor said: “Such pregnancy has to be medically terminated once diagnosed as it can result in rupture of the uterus and heavy bleeding, which can be fatal to the patient. Once I had diagnosed that, I was closely monitoring the patient and when she experienced spotting, I asked her to come to the hospital immediately.”
‘Difficult decision’
Dana said: “Dr Bukhari was extremely vigilant and administered two injections in a gap of one week to help medically terminate the pregnancy. It was a very difficult decision for me. But it was life-threatening and I had no choice.”
Despite two injections, the pregnancy was not properly terminated and the patient had to undergo a brief surgery for removal of foetus safely. The gynaecologist made sure no remnant of the foetus remained with the scar and the patient was safe.
Dana said, “Dr Bukhari managed to diagnose my condition early and save my life. I am very grateful.”
