Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS)

Hello,
I have just been informed that I am getting the robotic assisted laparoscopic Mals surgery... Does anyone have any experience with this? And could supply me with some information?

I am having the same exact problems you Are and have been to several vascular surgeons and GIs. You need to send your records to Dr. Hsu in Connecticut enjoying the MALS PALS Facebook page to learn more.

Thank you for sharing hope you can help. I woke up the day after Christmas in severe pain on my left side below my ribs. I thought it was constipation. After a week of pain and constipation I was able to get a colonoscopy and endonoscopy. That found nothing. I than did a ct scan that found the Mals. Now I’ve had another ct to see how blocked it is and after seeing a few dr.s was sent to a vascular surgeon he seems to think it’s a sore muscle. He said I would be vomiting and have Nausea when I eat. However I can’t eat much food and I do get a stomach ache and the throbbing pain has NEVER STOPPED. I also have continued the constipation issue. I’m getting a 2nd opinion tomorrow from another vascular surgeon. Can you give me advice on what I should ask him? I desperately want to get back to health. I am 47 & have always been healthy and exercised daily until this.

Does anyone have any info on the laproscopic robotic surgery? recovery time, and sucess?

So by having a high grade stenosis of the Celiac Artery, what would be the next steps after the full GI work up?

@bl3ss3d Welcome to our group. I also have POTS and understand why you would not want to fly for a medical procedure! I had an open surgery, I also have a vascular disease and with my additional diagnosis it was better for me to have open. I have heard very good things about both procedures, and I feel the biggest question is to find out how familiar your surgeon is with MALS, what are the success rates for that facility. I believe she meant 50/50 success rate...but it really depends on the person. How long have they had MALS, adult versus pediatric... have you been on pain medication and how long, have you had a successful celiac block, those are some pieces of the puzzle that help guide the surgeon to determine if you are a good surgical candidate. So happy you found us, we are a small group but appear to be growing rapidly, which only shows you we may not be as rare a some think.

I understand your concerns with the article but I believe it is a relavent and necessary topic. You may have misunderstood the conclusions are that patients that have undergone surgical intervention have improved quality of life. I believe many MALS patients experience situational anxiety and depression, I definitely have. That does impact the success of a surgery...any surgery not just MALS. Also many come into surgery already on pain medication and that also impacts the outcomes of surgical success according to the research available. I believe this article is supportive of the MALS patient as a whole, and address issues that a relavent to all of us.

With all due respect, That is a horrible article because it says there are many psychiatric diagnoses among people with MALS. It should have said “psychiatric MISdiagnoses” because most of us with MALS have had some physicians use a psychiatric diagnosis as a wild card when they don’t know to check for MALS. This article will only serve as another barrier to getting the right tests and treatment. The majority of us have been misdiagnosed; the article didn’t even check to see if those psychiatric comorbiditues were errors.

I was getting a ct scan to look for Chrons and it showed up....

Came across a good article today, thought I would share: https://www.jvascsurg.org/article/S0741-5214(18)30278-7/fulltext