Patent urachus is a rare disease. Children are more likely to develop patent urachus. Adults, on the other hand, rarely experience it.
Although discharge from the umbilicus is the most common symptom, the most worrying ones include lower abdomen pain and a fever with chills.
Can adults get urachus patents? Only a few cases among adults have been reported, and only one other case that we are aware of has a recurrence after spontaneous healing.
The patient in this case also had, aside from patent urachus, hemilateral aplasia, and monorchism.
Patent urachus is a rare condition, with an estimated prevalence of 1 to 2 cases per 100,000 deliveries.
The urachus, which appears as a diverticulum from the caudal wall of the yolk sac about 16 days after conception, is the intra-abdominal remnant of the embryologic allantois.
Noreida Kepal @ Nasir, 46, a bank officer at RHB Bank YONG PENG, has been suffering from this illness for a month. She was initially unaware that she had patent urachus.
“My navel is filled with pus and blood, and I’m experiencing feverish symptoms,” she said.
She believed that it was a condition caused by a bacterial infection in her core. Patients with this condition do experience these symptoms. Most patients are fully unaware that they have patent urachus.
She had previously relied solely on paracetamol to get through more than a week of discomfort.
She sought treatment at Mokhtar Clinic after realising that she couldn’t bear the pain any longer.
However, when her symptoms worsened after a week, she went to the hospital for further treatment.
“On the suggestion of the doctor at the clinic, I went to Pantai Hospital in Batu Pahat for follow-up care. The doctor first did an ultrasound examination but discovered nothing. The hospital has therefore gone one step further and performed an MRI-CT scan. This check revealed that I have patent urachus,” she said.
Following that, she was treated by Dr Ainil Hayyat Abdul Rahman. The doctor has advised her to have surgery as soon as possible.
The doctor said that if patent urachus is not treated as soon as possible, it might grow into a cyst in the region of the abdomen close to the navel. Noreida therefore decided to go for it.
“I’ve decided to have the procedure done on December 21,” she said.
After the surgery, the patient will feel better and will no longer be in pain.
Furthermore, patent urachus causes the navel to fester and leak fluid, making the patient uncomfortable.
“The quick procedure performed by the specialist takes around an hour,” she said.
Noreida went into surgery at 3.08pm and was done by 4.15pm. The small surgery performed by the doctor did not cause her stomach to split or result in a larger wound. The doctor also did not completely sedate her before the procedure.
She was pleased and grateful after the successful surgery because the doctor had done an excellent job.
She also conveyed her appreciation to the hospital and medical staff who looked after her. She is currently in the hospital recuperating.
“If you experience symptoms similar to these, seek medical attention as soon as possible,” she advised.
We are unable to recognise what is going on inside our bodies. Therefore, we must speak with an expert to determine the root cause of the illness we are currently experiencing.
Adults are highly unlikely to have patent urachus. However, if there is such case, we must not disregard this illness, and immediately see the doctor. Cancer may develop if this condition is not treated promptly.
• This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
