Interventional Radiologist at SKMC performed a unique procedure within a child vessels under X-ray guidance
Abu Dhabi - UAE: Recently, a Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) procedure was performed successfully on a 3.5 years old child at Sheikh Khalifa Medical city (SKMC)
, managed by Cleveland Clinic, a SEHA healthsystem facility. The procedure was performed for the first time in this young age in the UAE by Dr Jamal Alkoteesh, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at SKMC TIPS is an advanced Interventional Procedure which allows blood flow through the liver to normalize by relieving pressure in major veins that transport blood through the liver. Hence immediate risk of a major life threatening gastrointestinal bleed is significantly relieved. Future therapeutic decisions can now be made without the pressure of a major gastrointestinal bleed filling the agenda.
The child was referred to SKMC from Dubai suffering from gastric varices bleeding due to portal hypertension as a result of liver cirrhosis. She presented with massive gastric bleeding which Dr Souheil Shabib, Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterologist/Transplant Hepatologist managed to control after 3 hours of sclerosing and banding the bleeding sites. The risk of a second massive life -threatening bleed was very high and TIPS was the best option to avoid it.
Dr. Atul Mehta, Chief Medical Officer at SKMC, said that “TIPS procedure is carried out for certain patients who require liver transplant. The procedure usually will drastically lower the risk of complications for patients awaiting liver transplant. We constantly endeavor to innovate and create new avenues of patient care by pioneering procedures such as this across the UAE”.
Dr. Shabib, stated that “today, TIPS is considered one the most convenient procedures to stabilize patients with liver diseases complicated by certain types of bleeding such as variceal bleeding in patients with portal hypertension in whom endoscopic treatment is insufficient. The procedure is considered “bridging the patient for liver transplant”. He added that this patient is the youngest in the GCC and the Middle East to benefit from TIPS. The next older patient who had been treated with TIPS in the region was at 7 years of age and the procedure was performed at King Faisal specialist Hospital and Research center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dr Alkoteesh stated that the procedure was done successfully with no complications through very tiny cut at the base of the neck less than 5mm and it was performed under general anesthesia and took 2 hours. The patient was discharged from the hospital 48 hours later and she is in good health now. “We are used to do the TIPS procedure at SKMC on adults but performing the TIPS procedure at this very young age is an achievement and to our knowledge is the first case of a successful TIPS procedure performed at this age in 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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