But minimally invasive surgery at Rashid Hospital means he’s back on his feet in days
Dubai: A British expat suffering from a severe bowel condition caused by his poor diet had to have a third of his colon removed at Rashid Hospital three days ago.
Colin Fisher, 44, from Scotland underwent elective surgery under consultant general surgeon Dr Omar Al Marzouqi on January 20 for severe diverticulitis, where a third of his infected colon was removed through keyhole surgery. Three days later he was back on his feet and discharged however thanks to the minimal invasive procedure.
Diverticulitis is a condition where a lack of fibre in diet results in faecal matter getting stuck to the side of colon forming pockets which rupture and cause microbial infection and abscesses along the colon wall.
Dr Marzouqi said, “Modern fast food and processed diets have very low fibre and we find this condition to be very common in people with Western diets. However, we are now getting cases of diverticulitis in the local population too.
“If unattended for long, diverticulitis results in infection and abscess that cause the passage to be strictured resulting in painful attacks.”
The patient has since been provided with a detailed nutritional consultation to tweak his dietary habits.
Describing his condition Fisher told Gulf News: “The first time I had an attack was in August. There was a very sharp pain in the left side of my abdomen and I was in agony suffering chills and high fever.
“The private hospital I went to wanted to conduct an open abdomen surgery after diagnosing my condition, but friends advised me to come to Rashid trauma care,” he added.
Dr Marzouqi said, “Upon examination we found that Colin had a very complicated diverticulitis where an entire section of his colon was infected and he had multiple abscesses. The first time we were able to treat him with strong course of antibiotics and drained his abcesses under guided imaging. He had to be in hospital for three weeks.”
While Fisher recovered he was back in the emergency ward on December 27 with another attack, but this time it was less intense.
“I was playing golf when I felt a sharp pain and immediately came to Rashid Hospital as I knew it was the same issue,” he said.
“I spent New Year celebrating with hospital staff, but this time after a short course of antibiotics and the draining of one abscess it did the trick and I was discharged on January 5.”
Dr Marzouqi said: “But Colin still knew he required surgery to excise the infected colon. He could have chosen to travel abroad or go to a private hospital but he chose to come to us. We have considerable experience in dealing with this condition using minimally invasive surgery.”
Fisher said he had a sense of comfort with the hospital and trusted Dr Marzouqi who was familiar with his case history.
In a surgery using two minor punctures on the left side of his abdomen the surgery team was able to resect the infected segment of about 25-cm of his colon.
“The patient recovered the same day and had meals and next day had coffee with me,” said Dr Marzouqi. “His recovery has been good, his normal bowel functions have been restored and his strength has returned, so we were able to discharge him on the third day,” he added.
What is Diverticulitis?
A condition where the lack of fibre in diet results in faecal matter getting stuck to the side of your colon forming pockets which rupture and cause microbial infection and abscesses along the colon wall.
