UAE: Life-saving surgery fulfils Indian expat's wish to attend daughter's wedding

An Indian expat was making preparations for his daughter's wedding on April 10 when he was rushed to the hospital with multi-organ complications.

P Shajikuttan's colleagues took him to the emergency department of Aster Hospital, Mankhool, after he vomited blood and collapsed in his room. The 48-year-old welder was suffering from fever and body pain for a few days, but his health deteriorated suddenly, his colleagues said.

A multi-disciplinary team of doctors performed complex procedures on the patient, who was later diagnosed with a leaking infectious aneurysm in his thoracic aorta, a tear in his oesophagus and thrombosis in his right lower limb. Shajitkuttan underwent a six-hour-long life-saving procedure.

“By the time Shajikuttan reached the hospital, he had lost a lot of blood. He was in a haemorrhagic shock, so we could not get many details. So, our first attempt was to stabilise the patient,” said Dr Senthilnathan TT, vascular specialist and endovascular surgeon at Aster Hospital, Mankhool.

“An immediate chest X-ray revealed a widened mediastinum indicating the presence of an aneurysm in the thoracic aorta. He was swiftly subjected to a CT scan, which revealed the massive infectious aneurysm that had started leaking. The aneurysm was about to rupture. If it had ruptured, the patient would have died,” Dr Senthilnathan added.

The patient was immediately subjected to a minimally invasive TEVAR (thoracic endovascular aortic repair) procedure, which was successful.

However, the leakage from the infectious aneurysm had filled up around the heart, and the patient soon experienced a cardiac emergency caused by pericardial effusion.

“We shifted him from the cardiac ICU to the cath lab, where he underwent pericardiocentesis. The procedure drains fluid build-up around the heart. To our surprise, over 300ml of pus was drained,” said Dr Naveed Ahmed, interventional cardiology consultant at Aster Hospital, Mankhool.

Following the cardiac procedure, Shajikuttan was kept in the ICU for continuous monitoring. However, the next day, doctors found blood in his oesophagus.

“Detailed investigation revealed that there was a tear on the oesophagus caused by aorto-oesophageal fistula. It is a life-threatening condition that causes gastrointestinal bleeding. It was the result of the infection aortic aneurysm. We fixed it using a stent in the aorta and CT scans showed no leakage of the oesophagus,” said Dr Amal Premchandra Upadhyay, gastroenterology consultant at Aster Hospital, Mankhool.

Though Shajikuttan started responding to the treatment and showed signs of progress, doctors found that his right leg was not responding.

“There was no pulse in his right leg. A thorough check-up found a complicated thrombosis in his femoral artery. He again underwent surgery to rectify this. There were multiple blood clots in his femoral artery. We cleared all those,” added Dr Senthilnathan.

The doctors said it is very rare for a patient to suffer from multiple complexities, each life-threatening by itself.

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“Shajikuttan’s condition was very bad. Thankfully, he was brought at the right time and received the proper treatment. We are so happy to see him recovering fast,” added Dr Senthil.

Shjikuttan expressed his gratitude to the doctors, who he said gave him a second chance at life.

"I cannot even remember what happened to me. It all happened suddenly. I want to attend my daughter’s marriage. That is my only dream now. The doctors here have made that possible. My family and I will forever be indebted to them,” he said.

ayaz@khaleejtimes.com

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