• Home

Uterus removed through LAVH surgery

DUBAI - The first laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) was successfully carried out at Welcare Hospital earlier this week by Dr Shirin V. Venkat, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist at Ruby Hall Clinic in India and a visiting specialist at Welcare Hospital.

The two-hour surgery allowed the removal of the uterus in a post-menopausal woman through the vaginal opening without the need for a large incision.

The procedure relieved a lot of pain and bleeding that the patient, Jaya Muralidharan, a 41-year-old mother, had endured for over eight months due to intrauterine bleeding. "I had a problem in the uterus, I had a lot of cysts and I was uncomfortable for almost one year, there was a lot of bleeding. I tried a lot of medication, hoping it would stop but it did not.

"I flew to India where I took a second and third opinion, all the doctors told me I needed surgery. I wanted laparoscopic surgery, as it would leave no scar. I realised that laparoscopic surgeons came for brief visits to hospitals in the UAE. Dr Shirin was recommended to me by a mutual friend and following my first visit to her she scheduled my surgery," Mrs Muralidharan said.

The patient was still resting after her surgery when she spoke to Khaleej Times and said she had been under heavy medication since she came out of the operating theatre on January 6, adding that she was not alert enough to feel anything.

Dr Shirin, a Dubai resident for 17 years, studied the LAVH technique in India where she said it is carried out routinely. She said the patient came to her looking specifically to have this procedure done.

"The patient said she did not want to have any scars as a result of the procedure as she had in the past delivered by Caesarean," Dr Shirin said.

• UAE