Medical experts at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi saved the life of an Emirati youth who suffered rare complications following a routine surgery.
Abdulla, 28, had undergone bariatric surgery at a facility in the UAE to help improve the quality of his life after being assured of the safety and effectiveness of the procedure.
But what was meant to be a few hours in the operation room followed by a swift recovery turned into several weeks of ordeal and a month in a coma for the Emirati because of rare, unexpected complications.
His life was only saved when he was transferred to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. “You don’t go into a routine surgery like this expecting it to turn into a stroke, especially at my age,” says Abdulla.
“I remember the pain that I felt right after the surgery, which wasn’t normal at all. I could feel it course through my body. It kept on increasing to the point where I could not handle it any more. That is when I realised that something was wrong.”
Dr Matthew Kroh, Chief of the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, says Abdulla was transferred to the hospital needing an immediate reoperation.
“I received a call from surgeons at the hospital where Abdulla had the surgery explaining that he had entered a life-threatening situation and that it would require the multidisciplinary expertise of our hospital to save him,” said Dr Kroh.