ATBUTH surgeons successfully construct new bladder for cancer patient

ATBUTH surgeons successfully construct new bladder for cancer patient

Bauchi-A team of Medical Surgeons at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi have constructed a new bladder for a 18 year old cancer patient.

Vanguard reports that the patient, Ibrahim Sai’du Ibrahim who is a student of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi was diagnosed of carcinoma, a disease in which malignant cancer cells form in the tissues of the bladder.

A surgical procedure was carried out on Ibrahim which include the removal of all of the bladder to remove the cancerous tumours and construct a new bladder (neobladder reconstruction). This was the final option Ibrahim had to save his life from cancer.

Among the team of doctors were Dr Makama Baje Salihu, the Head of Surgery, ATBUTH Bauchi, Dr Haruna Usman Liman who was the lead surgeon and two other medical professionals who assisted during the surgery.

Speaking with the lead surgeon, Dr Haruna Usman, in an interview, he said Ibrahim had a five years history of passage of blood in the urine and was diagnosed with carcinoma, that is cancer of the bladder.

He said: “When we evaluated Ibrahim, we discovered that he had a mass in the bladder, so he had to go through various screening such as intravenous pyelogram, (series of x-rays of the kidney, ureters and bladder), biopsy ( the removal of cell tissues so that they can be viewed under the microscope by a pathologist and Cystoscophy, a diagnosis procedure where a hollow lighted tube is used to look inside the bladder.

“All these procedures were conducted to establish whether there were cancerous cells or not. In his situation, the aim was to control the tumour from spreading because there was a spread of the tumour into the pipes that link urine between the kidney and bladder”

“The aim of this procedure is to give him the best option because there is no cure for cancer. What we did for him was to control the tumour from spreading and increase his chance of survival and that we have achieved so far. The second part of the procedure was to remove the bladder and refashion a new bladder for him.”