Philippine expat Norman suffered from a persistent, chronic cough for six months with increased difficulty swallowing. After several visits to the hospital, he was referred to Dr. Khaldoun Abu Daqqa, a specialist in thoracic surgery at Zulekha Hospital Dubai, who explained that an X-ray of his chest at another hospital showed an abnormal shadow, after which the CT scan confirmed. the presence of a large shoe-shaped tumor surrounding the food pipe (esophagus). Endoscopy with biopsies also showed a rare benign tumor developing in the smooth muscle of the middle esophagus.
The tumor progressed over a few years and grew to a large size of 5.5 cm and symptoms began to appear. And the surgeon’s opinion was that such tumors can only be cured by surgical intervention. He said: “We performed a minimally invasive video-assisted resection of esophageal tumor with primary repair of esophageal muscle, with excision of air sacs in the lung accidentally detected by CT, all through a single 4 cm inlet.”
The operation took three hours with the help of an oncologist, Dr. Sameh Abu Amer.
“The operation was difficult because of the location of the tumor and its relationship to the surrounding organs and other vital vessels,” says Abu Amer.
The minimally invasive procedure is unique and reduces postoperative pain.
