Surgeons in Erzurum perform rare operation to treat Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome

A team of 10 surgeons at Atatürk University Research Hospital in Erzurum, Turkey, successfully performed a high-risk operation on 28-year-old Selçuk İlter. İlter had been suffering from severe abdominal pain and vomiting for two years due to Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS), a rare condition where the main artery supplying the internal organs becomes blocked.

According to Dr. Yasin Kılıç, a cardiovascular surgeon, the patient had previously sought treatment in Trabzon, Istanbul, Ankara, and Konya, but doctors in those cities declined the surgery due to its high risk. The six-hour procedure involved five cardiovascular surgeons and four general surgeons. The team worked to free the tissues, stomach, intestines, and liver to make the aorta visible, eventually using a synthetic vessel to bypass the blockage.