4-yr-old girl with rare duplex kidney treated at SMHS Hospital

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 8

Doctors at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital have perfosrmed a meticulous laparoscopic surgery on a four-year-old girl with a rare case of a duplex kidney.

Zehra’s parents, who belong to Shadipora in Bandipora district, took medical consultations from various hospitals in the country before landing up at SMHS Hospital.

Second of the two siblings, Zehra, has been suffering from urinary tract infection and dribbling of urine since birth. “It was a painful time. She would cry of pain and dribbling of urine would compromise her hygiene,” said Zehra’s father Zulfikar Ahmad. Exhausted by moving from one hospital to another, Zehra was brought to SMHS Hospital on February 28. After doctors examined her at the hospital, they found that her right kidney was divided by a deep cleft and she had two ureters instead of one.

“She was suffering from acute urinary tract infection and dribbling of urine because of the duplicated collecting system for urine,” said Dr Iqbal Salim, a well-known laparoscopic surgeon at SMHS Hospital.

Doctors decided to remove the additional upper part of the right kidney to stop dribbling of urine. “Keeping in consideration the age of the girl, we decided to remove the extra part of the right kidney and the extra ureter by a laparoscopic procedure,” Salim said. Doctors termed it another milestone achieved at SMHS Hospital as the surgery was performed through laparoscopic method, which avoided scars on her body.

“From the kidney right down to the urinary bladder would have given a big scar on her body because the anatomy was complex. We decided to go with the laparoscopic method and it worked well,” the laparoscopic surgeon said.

Doctors say that in about half of duplex kidney cases, both kidneys are affected by the duplicate ureter and blood supply.

Doctors say Zehra is responding well to the treatment and her surgery has been successful.

Before visiting SMHS Hospital, Zulfikar says that he had visited doctors in Delhi and Punjab but the treatment provided by them did not cure his daughter’s condition. Zehra’s father Zulfikar is happy that his daughter has finally received the treatment which will bring some peace in his family.