suffered from chronic shortness of breath for two years
A medical team at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh managed to treat a woman who suffered from chronic respiratory distress for two years due to a rare condition of fatty, proteinous secretions in the lungs, after performing two lung washing operations.
Dr. Saleh Al-Damas, Consultant Chest Diseases and Head of the Sleep Disorders Unit at the Specialized Hospital, explained that this condition called (Alveolar Proteinosis) is one of the rare cases globally, as the incidence ranges from 1 in a million to 1 in every five million people, according to documented global studies of different societies. He pointed out that the 36-year-old patient was suffering from the presence of fatty and protein accumulations (similar to cream) in the air sacs in the lungs that impede the process of oxygen reaching the blood circulation, and thus severe chronic shortness of breath when doing any effort, indicating that shortness of breath Breathing turns into complete respiratory failure and complete inability to move, and then death for between 10 to 30% of cases over time if no therapeutic intervention is made. Dr. Al-Damas added that the diagnosis of the case was carried out by performing a chest tomography and taking a sample of the lungs using the endoscope, and thus it was confirmed that the patient was diagnosed with this rare condition, explaining that the cause of the infection remains unknown in most cases, but it varies between fungal and bacterial infections, or inhalation. Toxic gases and pesticides in abundance, or infection with some types of blood diseases.
And he indicated that the patient was treated by two lung washing operations conducted under general anesthesia separated by two weeks, and each of them lasted 5 hours. In the two operations, one lung was completely isolated and the patient was made to breathe artificially through the second lung, and then the isolated lung was repeatedly injected with a quantity ranging from Between 10,000 and 15,000 milliliters of a special saline solution with a temperature suitable for body temperature to remove the protein-fat accumulations, pointing out that performing the two operations at the same time may put the patient at risk.
Dr. Al-Damas indicated that the patient returned to her home in the eastern region to lead her normal life after spending only two days in the hospital after the operation, indicating that the patient will undergo a periodic review of the clinic next time to be injected with the bone marrow growth protein, which helps in treating these cases and preventing Future relapses of this disease.
He stressed the importance of the anesthesiologist''s role in performing this type of complex operation, which was carried out by Dr. Abdullah Halawani, anesthesiologist consultant, because of the accuracy needed to use a special technique to isolate one of the lungs.
Dr. Al-Damas added that some patients with this condition need to repeat the washing every 3 to 5 years, and it is a non-contagious and not hereditary condition, and affects one female for every four males, while this case was medically recognized in the 1960s and about 500 cases were monitored. of this kind worldwide so far. For his part, Dr. Adnan Ezzat, Executive Director of Medical and Clinical Operations at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, explained that the hospital had previously received two similar cases, the first for an 18-year-old girl who underwent a dialysis procedure about 5 years ago, and she is currently enjoying a full normal life after her recent marriage and pregnancy. maiden. The second is a Bahraini girl who was 18 months old and weighing only 5 kg. She had the same condition due to a blood disease, and she stayed for several months in the intensive care room connected to a respirator until she underwent a very difficult dialysis operation about one year ago due to the small size of the lungs, by A medical team included Dr. Saleh Al-Damas and Dr. Ibrahim Al-Maqri, chest diseases consultants, and Dr. Abdullah Halawani, anesthesiologist at the hospital.
