Melania Trump Is Still In The Hospital Four Days After A Procedure That’s Usually Done Outpatient
Melania Trump is still in the hospital, four days after she went for what the White House claimed was a routine, outpatient procedure, MSN is reporting.
On Monday, the First Lady was admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in suburban Washington, for what the White House described as a “benign kidney condition.” Also on Monday, the White House said that Mrs. Trump underwent an “embolization procedure,” and later that day, Donald Trump tweeted that she would be home in “two or three days.”
On Wednesday, Melania stated that she was “feeling great” and would be home soon.
“A sincere thank you to Walter Reed Medical Unit @WRBethesda & to all who have send good wishes & prayers! I am feeling great & look forward to getting back home @WhiteHouse soon.”
Four days later after being admitted, however, she’s not home, and nobody is certain why. What’s more, an “embolization procedure” is a minor one that is almost always done on an outpatient basis.
Speaking to The L.A. Times, Dr. Mark S. Litwin, professor and chairman of urology at UCLA, said that an embolization procedure is almost always done as an outpatient visit.
“Why someone would be in a hospital for a week for this, I have no idea.”
Welcome to the @WhiteHouse President @EmmanuelMacron and Mrs. Macron.???????????????? pic.twitter.com/aUrgYNO89k
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 24, 2018
However, Dr. Mohamad Allaf, vice chairman of urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told MSNBC that such a long stay for such a minor procedure is not out of the question.
“It may be just out of an abundance of caution and privacy. Certainly, staying a little longer may imply that this is a little bit more of a complex situation.”
Similarly, urologist Dr. Gregory Bernstein, says that he always warns his embolization patients that they may be there for a while.
“I always tell my patients to prepare for the worst-case scenario, which may involve having to stay three or four days in the hospital, or they could get out earlier, and then that would be even better.”
During an embolization, a catheter is inserted, usually through the leg and into the renal artery – the artery that supplies blood to the kidneys. Then, some foam is inserted, clogging the artery and cutting off the blood supply to a lesion, causing it to shrink and die off.
The two most common types of kidney lesions treated by embolization, according to Dr. Litwick, are an angiomyolipoma – that is, a type of benign tumor that can be filled with blood vessels, fat cells, and sometimes some random muscle cells; or an AVM, or arteriovenous malformation – that is, a random collection of blood vessels that arrange themselves in an odd way. Both types of lesions can cause discomfort in the patient and, in some cases, even blood in the urine.
