Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A leading Bahraini doctor and his colleagues have won a top award for research which has resulted in cancer-stricken women being able to have a full, loving relationship with their husbands after intensive treatment.
Dr Waleed Abdul-Wahab, who is working at the pioneering Franziskus Krankenhaus-Charite Medical University in Germany, has helped pioneer a new operative technique called the "Berliner NeoBladder" that takes advantage of new mesh technology.
He said: "It allows womanhood to be preserved after radical cancer surgery since a woman's self-confidence is bolstered by her ability to continue having a normal marital life, as well as her ability to lead a normal social life.
"Despite having their bladder removed, they are able to pass urine normally (without any urine bags or catheters) and furthermore they are able to have a normal sexual life. It is essential to remember the significance of focusing on treating the patient rather than just treating the cancer."
This operation is reserved for female patients with invasive bladder cancer. The cancerous bladder is removed along with the uterus and ovaries.
A new bladder is then constructed from part of the patient's intestines and is placed at the site of the original bladder and this means that there is no need for urine collecting bags or catheters like in other operations that tended to have an anti-social effect on patients.
This technique would not have been possible without the aid of a titanium mesh which is used to attach intimate body parts to the back of the pelvis.
The titanium mesh lends support and without it the new bladder would collapse within the body and because the mesh does not react with any tissue - especially the new bladder - complications that were seen with previous unsuccessful techniques have been eliminated.
The study won second prize of only two prizes out of a total of more than 700 submitted researches at the German Urology Congress.
Dr Waleed has been spearheading GulfWeekly's One in Four community campaign and this week concentrates on a male's worse fear - prostrate cancer.
