DMCH completes first surgery on Satkhira girl Muktamoni’s hemangioma

Doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, or DMCH, have successfully completed the first surgery on Satkhira girl Muktamoni’s hemangioma tumour.

She is currently under observation and will require a few more rounds of surgery before the tumour is completely removed, doctors said.

The 12-year-old was taken to the operating room at 8:20am on Saturday.

A 20-member team was involved in the complicated operation, said Burn Unit Coordinator Samanta Lal Sen.

“We are not certain if we can save her arm,” he said. “We must conduct tests and see how we can proceed.”

Muktamoni’s parents had been sitting outside the operating room, their faces showing concern.

“The doctors have told us that she will get better after the operation,” her mother Ayesha Khatun told bdnews24.com. “We can do nothing but pray. If everyone will pray for us, she will recover.”

An initial examination suggested the disease could be ‘hyperkeratosis’ or skin cancer, said Satkhira Medical College Assistant Professor Md Nasiruddin. And Samanta Lal Sen had agreed.

Doctors later concluded that a tumour had formed in the girl’s blood vessels due to a disease called hemangioma following a biopsy last Saturday.

Muktamoni's parents noticed a tiny red bump on her right arm when she was one and a half years old, said her father Ibrahim Hossain.

For the next four years, the bump grew big hampering her movement, he said.

Her arm eventually became heavier than the rest of her body, which apparently shrivelled in comparison.

The state took responsibility for Muktamoni’s medical care after her story was reported in the media. She was admitted to DMCH on Jul 11.