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woman whose life has been saved in a world first case – by doctors filling her heart with Superglue.
When doctors discovered a rare tumour in Jamie Arliss’ heart they thought there was nothing that could be done to save her. There is no-one alive in the world with such a tumour – and they thought the mother of one was doomed.
But then cardiologist Christopher Cave came up with a radical idea to save her.
He filled the golf-ball sized tumour in her heart with superglue – which amazingly has stopped the tumour growing and saved her life.
It is the only case of its kind ever performed in the world – and now her case is being recorded in medical journals around the world.
Dr Cave, from the University of Rochester Medical Centre, USA, where the world-first operation took place, said: “There are no patients in the world alive with this type of tumour.
“Surgeons had operated to try and remove the tumour but it was impossible so there was nothing that could be done to save her.
“I decided to try the medical superglue to fill the tumour as a last attempt to save her life. We had no idea whether it would work, but it was her only option.”
“Mrs Arliss is an incredibly brave woman as she knew that her heart could have been damaged by pouring the glue into it, but she was prepared to take that risk as the only chance she had.
“The tumour has now been stopped from growing and it has exceeded all expectation. We can expect her to lead a normal life.”
It was a stroke of amazing luck that led to the tumour being diagnosed in March 2009. Mrs Arliss, who lives with husband Scott, (36), a farmer, and daughter Leighton, (15), in Wayne County, USA, was receiving some training where she works as a nurse. She and other members of staff were being trained to use an ECG heart machine, and as a demonstration she was wired up to the machine. It showed an abnormality and tests showed that she had the rare tumour growing in the left ventricle cavity of her heart.
Mrs Arliss said: “I was so scared when I was diagnosed with the tumour. They told me it was incredibly rare and I thought I was going to die and leave my daughter without a mother.”
A scan of the tumour (marked with an arrow) before it was filled with the medical supergule
“I had been very tired and out of breath for a while but I was young and working hard in my job and I thought it was because of that.”
Doctors told Mrs Arliss that she had been born with the tumour and it had carried on growing. It was then the size of a golf ball and had also started to grow on the outside of her heart too.
Dr Cave said: “The only recorded cases of such heart tumours in patients are in patients who have already died.
“It is a difficult tumour to diagnose and very rare, and there are no recorded cases of anyone alive in the world with this type of tumour.
“She went into the operating theatre, but the surgeons who carried out the operation couldn’t remove the tumour and said there was nothing that could be done to save her.
“The superglue clearly shows up in the scan as black and has now stopped the rare tumour from growing in Jamie’s heart
“She could have been listed for a heart transplant, but a donor wouldn’t have come available in time. It was a dire situation for her as we didn’t know what we could do for her.”
Then in a stroke of luck, a neurosurgeon came to work in Dr Cave’s office, as his own office was having work done to it. And Mr Cave observed some work he was doing using a medical form of superglue to mend blood vessels in the brain.
He said: “I saw the superglue and wondered if it would be possible to put it into the tumour and stop it growing.
“I spoke with the neurosurgeon who was hesitant as it had never been done before, but we decided that it would be worth a try.”
Mrs Arliss agreed to the operation and the two doctors carried out the operation. They inserted a thin catheter tubing into her heart and into the tumour, and poured four tubes of the medical superglue into the tumour. – Daily Mail.