SKMC Cardiac Surgeons Perform Rare Heart Surgery for a 13 year-old girl with Heart Tumour

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A rare cardiac surgery was performed successfully on a 13 year old girl last May 2009 at Sheikh Khalifa Medical city (SKMC), managed by Cleveland Clinic, a SEHA healthsystem facility.
 
Before getting admitted to SKMC, the patient suffered from abdominal pain for 3 weeks. An appendectomy was performed in one of the hospitals in Sharjah. She was found to have ascites (water in the abdomen), a mildly distended abdomen and swollen legs. Following to that, an MRI study was done through her doctor at the Royal Hospital in Sharjah which showed a tumour in the right atrium of the heart. It was unclear where the origin of the tumour is and to which anatomical structure it was attached to or may be infiltrating. Such data is important to decide on the operation strategy. Therefore, a contrast CT as well as a TEE were performed in order to get more information.
 
The patient was then transferred to SKMC from the Royal Hospital in Sharjah on Thursday, May 7 with the diagnosis of right atrial tumour. The urgent open heart operation was done by Dr. Gregory Eising, Head of Adult Cardiac Surgery on Sunday, May 10 using the heart – lung machine and extracorporeal circulation.
 
Dr. Gregory Eising said, “The surgery was performed urgently because the patient was getting more and more symptomatic and the liver function was already deteriorating due to the fact, that the tumour was obstructing the whole inferior vena cava (this is the great vein, draining all the blood into the heart from the lower part of the body). This almost completely prevents the veinous blood return to the heart, a potentially life threatening condition. In addition, there was a large thrombus found sitting right below the tumour. The thrombus was growing there because of the low blood flow in this body area”.
 
 “The tumour and the thrombus were extracted completely during the three hours surgery. The tumour was located just at the border between the inferior vena cava and the heart”, Dr. Eising added. “In her perioperative period, a multi-disciplinary team including cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac intensive medicine, radiology, pathology and pediatric oncology was taking care of the young patient.”
 
Dr. Norbert Augustin, Chair of Cardiac Sciences Institute stated that “The tumour turned to be a semimalignant inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour, which is very rare. Only 7 cases of its kind are reported in the world medical literature so far.”
 
“The techniques used in the surgery are cutting edge in the field of cardiac surgery. The patient recovered well from the surgery and she can now live a normal life. The liver functions as well as the leg swellings are getting better day by day”, Dr. Eising added.
 
Dr. Scott Strong, CEO of SKMC said, “It is quite challenging to do such a rare cardiac surgery because of the high incidence of complications. On the other hand, it is the most rewarding experience to see this young lady recover after surgery and go home with a healthy heart. This illustrates our commitment to embracing state-of-the-art medical and surgical practices that allows our surgeons to advance the standard of care for their patients. "
 
Dr. Atul Mehta, Chief Medical Officer at SKMC, said that “Like other rare and cutting-edge surgeries, the surgeons at SKMC constantly endeavor to innovate and create new avenues of patient care by pioneering procedures such as Cardiac Surgeries across the UAE”.
 
SKMC is owned and operated by SEHA, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

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