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Capital hospital performs complex radiology procedure successfully

ABU DHABI — A complex interventional radiology procedure was recently performed successfully on a 20-year-old woman with Budd Chiari Syndrome at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), managed by Cleveland Clinic.

Dr Jamal Al Koteesh, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at SKMC, performed the complex procedure which took around two and a half hours.

The placement of the Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) stent was complicated because of the presence of clots in the portal venous system. But with great agility and persistence, the procedure was successful with no complications.

The hospital said in a statement on Wednesday that initially seen in Singapore for urgent treatment, the patient returned to her home in Abu Dhabi and presented at Al Mafraq Hospital in distress. Stabilised and correctly diagnosed at Mafraq, she was referred to SKMC for a complex procedure that saved her life.

The patient, a female Palestinian national, suffered from extensive blockage in her hepatic veins and some branches of the portal vein; and had massive accumulation of fluid in her abdomen, malnutrition, as well as jaundice.

The TIPS procedure is where an artificial channel in the liver is created using a covered metallic stent.

The procedure is performed by a highly trained interventional radiologist using flouroscopy and a catheter, wire and needle threaded into the
blockage area in the liver via
the jugular vein.

The patient was initially seen in a state of the art medical centre in Singapore. But unfortunately, physicians there were unable to place the stent.

The procedure was deemed too complicated by coexisting portal vein thrombosis or clogging of the vein due to blood clots.

Instead, an old fashion draining tube was inserted to drain the fluid from the abdomen across the diaphragm into the superior vena cava directly into the heart. — qudoos@khaleejtimes.com