Rashid Hospital performs complex pancreatic surgery

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 11, 2014:  Physicians from Rashid Hospital recently performed a complex pancreatic surgery for a 54 year old patient.

The surgery is performed by very few surgeons in the UAE due to its complexity and high mortality rate.

Dr Faisal Badri, Head of surgical department at Rashid Hospital performed the total pancreatectomy for a patient who was diagnosed with pancreatic tumours due to cancer.

Badri said: “This procedure is complicated because it includes removing the pancreas of the person. Because of the complex nature of the surgery, it is reserved for critical conditions involving the pancreas, such as benign pancreatic tumors, pancreatic cancer, and pancreatitis.”

He said  pancreatectomy is the surgical removal of all or part of the pancreas. Total pancreatectomy includes removal of the complete pancreas.

Badri said: “ The patient went to a private hospital in Dubai complaining of pain in her stomach and nausea. The blood work, ultrasound and other investigative tests showed that she had jaundice and a big lump in her pancreas.”

She was then referred to Rashid Hospital, where doctors studied her reports, carried out additional tests and diagnosed her to have pancreatic cancer.

“She had no option but to go through this procedure. When we conducted the abdominal surgery we realized that the mass was not only in the head of the pancreas but was extending into the body of the pancreas. Therefore, we needed to remove the whole pancreas. We also removed the lymph nodes surrounding the pancreas to prevent the recurrence of cancer  and conducted a biopsy, which fortunately showed that there was no cancer in the lymph nodes.”

The patient is currently in a stable condition in the ICU and will be discharged after three weeks. “ This surgery is a major procedure and therefore the patient needs to be in the hospital for a longer period of time as compared to several other surgeries.”

He said, every year the department conducts,  an average of 18 pancreas  surgeries for cancer but has only conducted 14 total pancreatectomies so far.

He said: “ Of the 14  total pancreatectomies conducted, five patients developed diabetes post the procedure. Diabetes mellitus (DM) induced by total pancreatectomy (TP) is known as Pancreatogenic Diabetes and is essential to be managed effectively.

“ At the moment we do not know if she will develop diabetes or not but  in such cases the aim is to save the life and intervene before the cancer spreads to other parts of the body.”

He said the patient will be referred back to the oncologist upon discharge. In addition she will meet with  a physiotherapist, dietician and a general surgeon to ensure she follows a 360 degrees approach to health.

“She will need to take a pancreatic enzyme tablet every day before and during her meals to ensure digestion of the food. Her sugar levels will also be monitored regularly. The key for her is to follow a very healthy lifestyle going forward.”

Badri said the general surgery department at the hospital conducted 3242 surgical procedures. Of these, 2640 were major and 602 were minor surgeries.