Hope regained for an elderly Emirati lady

A rare surgery on an elderly Emirati lady suffering from a large ‘Desmoplastic Melanoma’ in the sole of her right foot for a period of a few years was successfully treated at NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi.
Her cancer in the foot had presented like a very large but a common and less-harmful skin lesion called “Pyogenic Granuloma,” and had repeatedly misled the specialists concerned. In fact, it is extremely rare, and such a misleading presentation of the cancer has not been reported so far in the world literature. A team of Plastic Surgeons led by Dr. B. Venkata Ratnam, Head, Department of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi had adopted a new technique, called the “Adjustable Suture Technique,” for the treatment.

The lady had lost all hopes on life. Leading hospitals (both Government and Private) and top surgeons of Abu Dhabi had operated on the patient twice earlier elsewhere, each time with hospitalization for about three months; but the wound had never healed and the cancer had never got cured. Her family, friends and relatives have also lost all hopes, until Dr. B. Venkata Ratnam, Head, Department of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi, had decided to give a new hope to this old woman.

The challenges before Dr. B. Venkata Ratnam were two-fold. On the one hand, the patient was to be cured of her deadly cancer that had persisted despite two earlier surgeries that were performed elsewhere. On the other, the cancer excision surgery will leave a large defect that requires advanced plastic surgical measures to cover it, but the lady was not at all interested in any such existing conventional plastic surgical techniques, because she had lost all faith after spending six months in the hospital and that she had felt that she was too old for elaborate reconstructive plastic surgical procedures. This had called for analysis of the whole situation, a clear understanding and application of latest principles of plastic surgery, and planning of the complicated treatment.

The cancer was treated surgically and the large defect in the foot left by cancer excision was treated by a new technique, the “Adjustable Suture Technique,” that was invented a few years ago by Dr. B. Venkata Ratnam himself; and the wound had healed in just 14 days’ period.