I Have What???

November 15, 2010/ 7:25 PM

POSTED BY BRITTANY CURRAN

A SENIOR AT STEPHENS COLLEGE

For three years, I have been living with chronic stomach pain. Until recently I had grown accustomed to learning to work through the pain and had developed little techniques for lessening it.

This afternoon, I was officially diagnosed with MALS by Dr. Robert Thompson , a vascular doctor in St. Louis at Barnes Jewish Hospital.  MALS stands for Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome. The median arcuate ligament is a ligament that is supposed to help support the diaphragm and the celiac artery is the top superior artery attached to the aorta. This artery is one of three arteries that supply blood flow to the digestive tract of a person’s body. The celiac artery is superior of the three arteries supplying blood to the digestive organs.  A rapid growth spurt can cause the median arcuate ligament to that wraps around the celiac artery to act as a “noose;” thus, choking the artery and decreasing the blood flow to the digestive organs. Initially, this decrease in blood flow is what can cause a person to get a stomach ache after eating a meal.  Dr. Thompson said that he only sees one to two cases of MALS per year. A lot of vascular surgeons go through their career without ever seeing a single case of MALS, so that makes him a place of referral.

After a period of time, scar tissue builds up, and from the decrease in blood flow there is a result of nerve damage. This, unfortunately, is the case for me. The next step, it to treat it.