UAE doctors remove 23 tumours from woman's uterus

It began with pressure in the lower abdomen, followed by bloating. Even as she ignored these signs, 36-year-old Egyptian expatriate Noha Solaiman began experiencing severe pain and heavy menstrual bleeding and her stomach had swelled so much it made her look six months pregnant.

When the mother of three finally visited doctors for an ultrasound they were shocked to discover she had 23 huge myomas (non-cancerous tumours) near the lateral wall of her uterus.

Dr Mona Mohammad Emam Saad, ob-gyn specialist at Burjeel Speciality Hospital Sharjah, said: "Noha had been ignoring her condition for too long and that is what led to making it a very complex and dangerous operation. She was hesitant to undergo surgery until the symptoms worsened and the myomas became massive in size. She began experiencing pain in different organs of the body such as the groin area, pressure on kidney, and lower abdominal pain. Since she delayed visiting a doctor, she was told by most doctors that her uterus had to be removed in order to keep her healthy. However, she refused to get her uterus removed as she was just 36 and was hoping to maybe conceive in future."

Explaining why the case was complex, Dr Mona said: “What made her situation dangerous was not only the number of myomas but the area where they were located – near the lateral wall of the uterus covering the whole of the pelvis area. This was causing a lot of compression on some vital areas such as the urethra, and was covering the feeding muscle of the uterus and the artery connecting it to the kidney. The operation was also risky as important internal vessels pass through the area where the myomas were located and it could lead to severe bleeding and urethra injury.”

Due to the complexity of the case, Dr Mona conducted an open surgery instead of a laparoscopic operation and managed to remove all 23 non-cancerous tumours – weighing a total of 2.5kg – from just one incision in the abdomen.

“It is rare to have so many myomas in such a dangerous location. Usually doctors remove the woman’s uterus in such a case. However, I knew that removal of her uterus could lead to a lot of blood loss, so we first blocked the connection with the kidney before carrying out the procedure to remove myomas, saving the uterus before reconstructing it. I am glad we were able to save her uterus and she has recovered completely after the surgery. Noha can now conceive and have kids if she desires, six months from now,” Dr Mona explained.

Advising women not to delay consulting doctors when their body gives them such signs as Noha experienced, Dr Mona said: “If Noha had not delayed in consulting a doctor, we could have avoided a major open surgery and would have done a laparoscopic one. Also, timely medical intervention could have avoided the complexities and pain she had to go through due to her negligence.”

saman@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah