Palestinian child recovering after rare surgery in Shreveport

Shreveport Times

Doctors said a 9-year-old Palestinian child who traveled to Shreveport for a rare surgery to correct a congenital deformity was recovering well on Friday, 72 hours after his operation at Willis-Knighton South.

Mustufa Khaleel Mahmoud Issa, a 9-year-old from Palestine, will undergo a rare surgery to correct a congenital deformity at Willis-Knighton South. He is pictured with Dr. G.E. Ghali and Dr. Christina Notarianni.

The boy, Mustufa Khaleel Mahmoud Issa, and his mother received visa and travel funding and assistance through the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

Mustufa had a rare oblique facial cleft, which extends from the lip to the inner corner of the eye, and hypertelorism, which is evident by a larger than normal distance between the eyes.

His condition was the result of the areas failing to fuse properly during embryologic development, said Dr. G.E. Ghali, chancellor and dean of LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

“One of the things that happens is that the eye sockets end up being very wide apart, and there tends to be a cleft, like you would see in a typical cleft lip, but it includes the lip and the nose and all the way between the eye sockets,” Ghali said. “Sometimes even all the way up to the base of the skull, up to the brain area.”

Ghali was the lead surgeon for a team of LSU Health physicians performing the surgery, including oral and maxillofacial surgeons, cleft lip/palate and craniofacial surgeons, and pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Christina Notarianni.

Mustufa Khaleel Mahmoud Issa, a 9-year-old boy from Palestine, will undergo a rare operation Tuesday at at Willis-Knighton South.

“It involves everyone from the radiology department, to certainly the intensive care unit, the pharmacy, the blood bank and many, many others that will be taking care of this young man, post-operatively as well,” Ghali said Monday, the day before the procedure.

Mustufa has been in the U.S. for about three weeks. Through an interpreter, he said on Monday that he was happy about getting the surgery and had waited a long time to have it done.

Though Ghali said he has performed the surgery many times, it is still rare in the United States.

“I’ve been very fortunate in my career — I’ve been exposed to a lot of these kinds of cases even though they’re pretty rare,” he said. “There are probably less than 10 of these that are done in a year in the entire U.S.”

Post-surgery, Ghali said the operation had gone well.

“It took a bit longer than we had initially planned, but that is not unexpected due to the complexity of his deformities,” Ghali said.

Mustufa Khaleel Mahmoud Issa is pictured with physicians involved in the rare surgery he will undergo to address a congenital deformity at Willis-Knighton.

On Friday, the doctor said Mustufa was off the ventilator and breathing on his own. His swelling had peaked, and his vital signs were stable, Ghali said.

Mustufa’s medical and surgical care, as well as housing for him and his mother, is being underwritten by Willis-Knighton Health System. Physicians involved in the surgery were also donating their time, according to LSU Health.

“This really is an astounding procedure to have here in our community, and the fact that we’re having multiple organizations come together,” said Lisa Babin, executive director of public affairs, communication and development at LSU Health. “This involves the Palestinian Relief Fund working with LSU Health Sciences Center as an academic medical center, as well as Willis-Knighton Health System.”

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund is a nonprofit organization that arranges free care for sick and injured children who cannot be treated in their homeland.