A team of Dubai surgeons have removed a whopping 200 kidney stones from a Pakistani expatriate who had suffered for four years from a unique urological condition.
Mian Khan had been told by multiple doctors in his home country that he would lose his left kidney after suffering for years from multiple kidney stones.
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Khan, a Dubai resident for 12 years, finally approached doctors at a UAE hospital for treatment. The collaborative work between a urologist and an Intervention Cardiologist at Burjeel Specialty Hospital, Sharjah, saved Khan’s kidney.
Khan was diagnosed with staghorn calculus, a condition in which a large renal stone branches out in the entire kidney.
He was recommended a PCNL (Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy) procedure that is performed on patients with kidney stones that are resistant to other forms of treatment.
“I removed as many as 200 stones through a small keyhole in his back, including a large stone of 36mm x 41 mm,” said Dr Vaibhav A. Gorde, a specialist urologist at Burjeel Specialty Hospital, Sharjah. “The patient recovered well within three days of the surgery and was sent home.”
After eight days, Khan had trouble passing urine and returned to the hospital. Further investigations revealed a large clot in the bladder. After removing the clot, the doctors diagnosed Khan with possible bleeding from a blood vessel in the kidney.
“This is a rare recovery complication that occurs in 0.6-1 percent of cases,” said the doctor. “At this juncture, there are only two options. Option one involves emergency Nephrectomy (removal of the kidney).”
“The second one is a kidney-saving option called angioembolization which involves very selectively stopping the bleed from vessels of hardly 1mm size.”
Dr. Rahul Chaudhary, Specialist Interventional Cardiologist at the hospital, performed the super-selective angioembolization procedure on Khan. The doctor inserted a catheter through a small puncture of around 2 mm and passed in a wire to selectively access the tiniest branch that was the source of the bleed.
“The blood vessel that supplies the kidney is like a tree with many branches that makes selecting the bleeder highly complex. If we get close to any other blood vessel, that particular portion of the kidney can get damaged. The goal is to be as distal as possible to target the smallest and specific blood vessel responsible for bleeding. We identified the bleeder through the angiography, and we were able to block it.”
After four years of suffering, Khan, a driver, said he is now pain free.
“I used to be in so much pain that while driving, I would keep one leg on top. I had to keep a water bottle and a pillow on the left side of my stomach while sleeping as I could not bear the pain,” said the father-of-three. “I had lost all hope.”
“Allah has been merciful. Thanks to the Almighty and these doctors, I feel like I have a new lease on life. In three days, I got back to normal, and now I can do my work well.”
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