A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, March 12, 2010

Great News: Mubarak's [Not Previously Mentioned] Tumor was Benign

Husni Mubarak's gall bladder operation in Egypt last Saturday raised a few eyebrows since after its proclaimed success he remained in intensive care for four days. Sure, he's 81, but what was originally described as a gallstone related operation (often done with laparoscopy rather than invasive surgery) doesn't usually require the ICU. Now that he's out of intensive care (but still in the hospital in Heidelberg) we get the good news that the tumor or growth removed from (not clear from various sources if it's the duodenum or the small intestine) is benign. (Link is in Arabic: the word Waram means tumor), but I'm still not seeing it in most English sources. Oddly enough the Egyptian press forgot to mention it. Only when the news was good do we learn that we were waiting for a biopsy. Apparently there was a passing reference in the German doctors' first announcement to some abnormal tissue in the duodenum or intestine, but this got lost in translation and, presumably, neglected by the Egyptian press.

Well, good health to him anyway. I hope he's thinking of a long and quiet retirement somewhere. Apparently there are a lot of rumors in Egypt (no photos of him in the hospital have appeared so the usual "he's dead/he's in a coma" buzz that crops up just about every time he drops from public view is back in force). But at least we know the tumor that we didn't know he had is benign.

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