Rare tumour removed from Dubai expat's abdomen

Dubai - The tumour was 33 centimetres long.

A rare 33cm-long tumour was removed from the abdomen of an African expat by the doctors from the General Surgery Department at Rashid Hospital.
Dr Omar Al Marzouqi, General Surgery Consultant at Rashid Hospital, said the expat - who is in his 20s - was admitted to the hospital after suffering from pain and bloating in his abdomen for over a month.
"After conducting the needed medical tests, we found that he had a large tumour. So, we immediately prepped him to enter the operation theatre. The surgery took more than four hours. We were successfully able to remove the tumour and test it in the lab, where we found that the patient suffered from a tumour called Mesenteric Cyst (cavernous type)."
A Mesenteric Cyst is a benign intra-abdominal tumour with an incidence of one case per 250,000 hospital admission, according to international studies.
Dr Al Marzouqi said that due to its rarity, the symptoms and causes are unknown and so they are usually discovered by accident or during an abdominal radiological examination.
"We have come across a few cases of Mesenteric Cysts at the hospital but we have never seen a tumour this big. It was around 33cm long and 25cm wide. Since he had it for a whole month, it became attached to his colon, small bowl as well as his main arteries and veins, which made the extraction very complicated, but we were able to successfully remove it."
Dr Al Marzouqi revealed that the surgery was a success and that the patient was discharged after two weeks of treatment in good health.
Dr Ali Khammas, General Surgery Consultant and Head of the General Surgery Department, said Rashid Hospital is fully equipped to remove all kinds of tumours thanks to its highly sophisticated technologies and the skilled doctors working in the department.
Dr Khamas said that the General Surgery Department at Rashid Hospital offers a number of specialised services under its umbrella that includes: the Bariatric Centre, GI Oncology Centre, acute trauma care, Hernia Clinic for complicated surgeries, wound centre (which is the biggest in the northern emirates and has succeeded in preventing many cases of amputation) and proctology to name a few.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

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