Hospital in UAE saves life of patient with intestine tumour

Reuters

Al Ain - Following the procedure, the patient experienced a stable recovery and was discharged after three days.

By Wam

Published: Sun 11 Apr 2021, 3:53 PM

Tawam Hospital has helped save the life of a 39-year-old man suffering from severe rectal bleeding.

The facility is affiliated with Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the largest healthcare network in the UAE.

The patient was brought to Tawam Hospital’s emergency department, where tests showed his blood pressure to be very low and his condition required an urgent transfusion with a mismatched unit of blood, said a press release issued by the hospital on Sunday.

To understand the cause of the bleeding, the patient underwent an emergency upper and lower endoscopy that showed the colon to be full of blood and clots, making it extremely difficult to see what was inside.

He was then taken through an abdominal CT angiography, which showed a mass in the lower abdomen, following which an emergency surgery was scheduled.

Tawam Hospital’s surgeons then performed an emergent exploratory laparotomy surgery, which showed a large mass obstructing part of the small intestinal loop (proximal part of the ileum), while the intestine lumen was filled with blood. The procedure required an oncologic resection (excision) of the small intestinal loop obstructed by the tumour, and reconstruction of the other bowel loops by side-to-side anastomosis to restore the continuity of the intestine.

Following the procedure, the patient experienced a stable recovery and was discharged after three days. He continues to recover well and is receiving adjunctive treatment to combat the risk of recurrence.

The operation was performed by Dr Sulaiman Al Shantour, a consultant surgeon, who said, "This type of tumour, which is a gastrointestinal stromal tumour, is uncommon, as it represents less than one per cent of all gastrointestinal tumours, and affects approximately 10-20 people out of every million people. It may appear in any part of the digestive system, but it is most common in the stomach and then the small intestine."