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Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS)
I am looking for other patients that have been diagnosed with Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome. Although it is caused by compression of the celiac artery many people experience abdominal pain after eating, diarrhea, food avoidance. Usually the first doctors they see are GI doctors. It is a diagnosis that is made after everything else is ruled out. I am curious if anyone else has had surgery?
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HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.
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Hi @evrose23! After discussion with my vascular surgeon, open procedure was the only option for me. I have an underlying vascular disease and laporoscopic would have put me at a greater risk. I believe that there is better visualization in the open procedure vs laparoscopic, and it really depends on the patient's age and how long they have been diagnosed. Children are a whole different story, and laparoscopic seems to have a great success rate. For me, my artery did not open up after the ligament release so I had to have a bypass done. Let me know how your CTA goes!
@kariulrich Hello, I'm about to have a CT-A to determine if I have MALS. Do you mind if I ask why you chose the open procedure vs. laparoscopic?
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1 ReactionKari, thanks for sharing your video about living with Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD) and MALS. First-hand stories mean so much.
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1 ReactionThis was my experience with MALS and FMD done by Mayo in 2011, I have had a revision to my celiac bypass since then, and I am doing well. http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/discussion/before-and-after-fibromuscular-dysplasia-fmd-diagnosis/
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1 ReactionVery interesting! I would like to hear, see & read more about this. Thank you fir sharing, Good job!
Linda
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1 ReactionInteresting article: http://www.thij.org/doi/full/10.14503/THIJ-12-2495?code=txhi-site
Yes, that would nice if we could cross reference MALS it affects so many areas. @malsman, how long have you been diagnosed? Have you found anything helpful? I had Open Mals Celiac bypass with ganglionectomy with my 1st surgery. My second surgery included a revision on the dacron graph and included a omental patching around the area to prevent scar tissue from reforming. It all seems like a blur to me.
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1 ReactionI think I have searched prior but nothing ever came up or I would have been on sooner. Thank you for the welcome. I also may have been searching by a different name. Had to learn a bit. I always called it CACS (Celiac Artery Compression Disease) and was of course told I had celiac disease etc... All the common stories.
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2 ReactionsThank you for the information. I prefer MayoConnect because the way it is set up and monitored. I find the MALS group here to be respectful. Hope you will join us here!
MALS PALS has been the most informative group we have found and up until recently all we knew about but we also recently found a new group online not on Facebook called MALS Support. Its just a website forum.. I think thats the name of the website too but can't remember. Maybe do a google search for MALS Support and it should come up not sure... Other than that it has been really hard to find support. I highly recommend the that forum because I don't like my friends seeing what I am posting on Facebook. Its too personal. I wish there was more information out there but its been hard. I have had two procedures already and this isn't a easy topic to find doctors that understand it.