Abu Dhabi doctors remove 15 CANCER tumours from lungs

Abu Dhabi - The size of the eradicated tumours ranged between 0.8 cm and 8 cm.

In a first in the United Arab Emirates, a team of doctors at Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi succeeded in removing 15 cancerous tumours from the lungs of a young man in an eight-hour surgery that followed chemotherapy for several weeks.

The size of the eradicated tumours ranged between 0.8 cm and 8 cm. Doctors did not have to remove the lungs of the patient in the rare surgery.

After the surgery, the patient was put on a ventilator for a few hours, stayed at the intensive care unit for only a day, after which he was able to breathe normally and leave the hospital.

Dr. Aladdin Maarraoui, consultant oncologist at Mafraq Hospital, said that the plan developed by a multi-specialty team of doctors started with the removal of most of the malignant primary tumour.

The patient received chemotherapy for 12 weeks to halt the spread of cancer cells in the lungs. Later, doctors carried out a laser surgery to remove the remaining tumours, he added.

A member of Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, Mafraq Hospital is a 451-bed referral treatment institution, located about 35 km south-east of the UAE capital and serving one of the fastest-growing areas in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

With around 2,000 professional staff, Mafraq's services include medicine, obstetrics, and paediatrics, as well as surgical and critical care services that support the trauma programme. It also operates the largest burn unit in the country.

• Abu Dhabi