Emirati couple Alanoud Ismail and his wife were excited about welcoming their first baby when they were told by the doctors that their newborn baby girl suffered from a rarest of rare complication. She was born with twisted ovaries due to large ovarian cysts in both ovaries!

Surgeons at Danat Al Emarat Hospital for Women and Children in Abu Dhabi, part of United Eastern Medical Services (UEMedical), where she was born, decided to perform a life-saving surgery on the 48-hour-old baby. The hospital reported that this was the first such case reported in the UAE and the third such published medical case worldwide.

Dr. Raja Cingapagu, pediatric surgeon at Danat Al Emarat Hospital, who performed the baby's surgery along with a surgical team of various specialties, said: "The baby was born in the 35th week of pregnancy, and the tests revealed that she suffered from ovarian torsion and bleeding due to large ovarian cysts in both ovaries. The size of the cycst was over 5 cm although the ovary is usually not more than 1 centimeter at this age."

He added, "Based on the result of a few tests - 48 hours after her birth - it was decided that we should surgically operate her. We then performed a laparoscopic surgery, during which the cyst was removed from each ovary and both ovaries were brought back to their normal position. The bleeding was stopped and the accumulated blood was removed. Performing the surgery in the right time was essential in saving the life of the little girl, while keeping the ovaries intact without any complications and without effecting the organs."

"Such cases are very rare worldwide where both ovaries were twisted simultaneously, and at the same time it is considered life-threatening if not treated in the right time eliminating the possibility of disrupting the functions of the ovaries in future," Dr. Raja said.

The first such published case was reported from the US in 1982 where the girl passed away, while the second case was reported last year in a European country but complete details were not published.

Lauding the hospital's efforts in saving the newborn, Mohammed Hamad Al Hameli, acting undersecretary at Department of Health - Abu Dhabi said: "The successful treatment of this rare case and saving the life of this baby girl confirms the level of advancement in Abu Dhabi's healthcare facilities that are able to successfully deal with difficult medical conditions through highly qualified medical experts using modern medical technologies. Consequently, these facilities are responsible to maintain the levels they have reached and to constantly strive for improvements in line with the strategy of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi."

Speaking about what could lead to such complications, Dr Raja said: "The real reasons for such cases are not identified, but it could be caused by the hormones of the mother, which are transmitted through the placenta to the fetus. Sometimes, some of the fetuses may be hypertensive to the circulating hormones from the mother, which affects the ovaries in females causing ovarian hyperplasia, torsion and bleeding."

After surgery, the newborn was kept in the hospital for five days in the NICU before she was discharged.

Expressing his gratitude for saving the life of his newborn, Ismail said, "When doctors informed me of my daughter's condition and the treatment plan, I did not hesitate to proceed with their decision to perform this urgent surgery to save her life. I trusted the physicians' decision; and from here I thank the management of the hospital and physicians for their efforts with my daughter."

Copyright © 2018 Khaleej Times. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).