SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

A 6-year-old girl from Abu Dhabi, who suffered from rare malignant rhabdoid tumor with survival rate of 20-30%, recovered dramatically with the help of a Korean medical team. She is Miss ALJADEL ABDULLA.

In January 2013, Miss Abdulla went to anearby hospital due to leg pain , and a tumor of 6cm x 5cm was found on the right hip on the MRI test.

Her anxious parents wanted to get her treated as fast as possible, but the Abu Dhabi medical team could not decide whether the tumor was benign or malignant. Her medical record was thus sent to Seoul National University Hospital through the UAE Health Authority.

The Abu Dhabi Health Authority signed an agreement with the Korean government in November 2011, and has been sending patients who are difficult to be cured in Abu Dhabi. The doctors in Seoul National University Hospital answered that it seems to be malignancy after reviewing the chart.

Miss Abdulla and her parents visited Seoul National University Children’s Hospital for a thorough examination on February 7th, 2013, and she was diagnosed with malignant rhabdoid tumor. Striated muscle among human muscles is called rhabdoid, and malignant tumor was found in her hip. This is a rare disease with incidence of 0.6 person out of one million, and is an aggressive tumor which has a fatality of 70-80%.

Medical team from Pediatrics/Adolescent medicine, pediatric orthopedic surgery, rehabilitation medicine, radiation oncology, and radiology gathered to make the treatment plan as soon as possible. The cancer cells of Miss Abdulla penetrated the nerves and blood vessels of her hip that if her tumor was to be completely resected, she will never be able to walk again. The medical team of Professor Kang Hyoung Jin (Pediatrics/Adolescent) began to reduce the size of the tumor with her 5 cycles of chemotherapy from March 15th, 2013 to June.

There were several critical moments. A patient on chemotherapy is vulnerable to various complications due to decreased immunity. Miss Abdulla was also in a critical condition due to pneumonia in June, 2013, but she was able to survive withthe intensive care of Professor Park June Dong (Pediatrics/Adolescent) for 2 months in the pediatric intensive care unit.

She was also in a critical condition in July because of damaged cardiac valves due to bacterial infection. Miss Abdulla survived after a surgery of replacing the damaged cardiac valves with artificial valves, which was conducted by Professor Kim Woong Han (Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery) on July 5th, 2013.

When the size of the tumor became much smaller, Professor Kim Han Soo (Orthopedics) delicately removed it from the striated muscle, which was next to the sciatic nerve, without any damage to neural tissue on July 18th, 2013. Radiotherapy was done thereafter for the possibility of residual microscopic tumor on the nerves of her leg.

Thanks to the surgery, the nerve function of Miss Abdulla’s leg is completely normal, and she has no problem in daily activity.

On October 10th, 2013, Miss Adbulla received high dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from Professor Kang Hyoung Jin. This was the final step for full recovery, and is a process which erradicates all of the cancer cells left with high dose chemotherapy and rescues which hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are cells which are the origins of blood cells such as white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelets.

The result was a success! The cancer did not recur for 1 year after the surgery by October, last year. She is fully recovered. Medically, if the cancer does not recur for 1 year after the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, it is acknowledged as full recovery.

Miss Abdulla, who is 3rd child out of 2 sons and 2 daughters, laughs delightfully while holding her mother’s hand. The medical team and the child had to fight against the disease by getting in and out of the hospital for 16 times for the last 2 years in order to laugh like this again.

WAED AHMED ABDULLA(the patient’s mother, 35 years old) said, “The doctors and nurses are so kind. They treated us as family, not just as a patient to a doctor. The professors were sincerely sad when my child was sick, and they were enthusiastic when she got better. They were like a real father to her. I thank them so much.”

ABDULLA OMAR ABDULLA SALEM (the patient’s father, 34 years old) said, “I was close to the professor, and we wrote e-mails to each other frequently. Whenever I had any questions, I was able to ask him right away through the translation service provided by the hospital. I really do want to recommend Korean hospitals when I go back to UAE.” He touches the child’s face softly with a satisfied look.

From now on, Miss Abdulla only has to have CT and MRI test once in every 3 months. She can have the tests in Abu Dhabi, but her parents insisted of having the tests in Korea.

When Waed Abdulla was asked whether living in a foreign country was difficult, she answered, “We stayed at a residence hotel in Seoul. At first, it was difficult to adjust to the new environment because there were no UAE people. But it is more comfortable now since the number of people from UAE is increasing.”

When asked what their favorite place in Korea was, she said, “My child loves Hangang Park, Lotte World, and Everland the most. We like the climate of Korea. Except winter, though. Winter is too cold.”

Miss Abdulla and her parents departed from Incheon Airport to their home, Abu Dhabi on December 4th, 2014. They will visit Korea again in February, 2015 to check the treatment results.