Maha Al shaibi
Biography
Dr. Maha Abdulla Al-Shaibi, MD, FRCPSC is a Senior Consultant in Surgical Oncology at the Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Center in Oman. She is the country's first qualified surgical oncologist and has pioneered several advanced cancer surgeries including PIPAC and HIPEC. Dr. Al-Shaibi completed her General Surgery residency at McGill University and her Surgical Oncology fellowship at the University of Toronto, Canada.
She has held key leadership positions including Director of Development and Quality at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), and Chairperson of multiple national and institutional committees in quality and patient safety. Her academic contributions span over 20 peer-reviewed publications in oncology and surgery. A dedicated educator, she trains medical students and residents under the Oman Medical Specialty Board and serves as an Associate Editor of the Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal.
Passionate about empowering women in medicine, Dr. Al-Shaibi is a co-founder of the Women Surgeons of Oman initiative. She is a frequent speaker at regional and international conferences and has received several awards, including the OMSB Best Trainer Award and McGill?s Resident Teacher Award.
Research Interest
Sultan Qaboos cancer care and research center, surgical oncology, muscat, Oman.
oman medical specialty board, surgery, muscat, Oman.
Sultan Qaboos Cancer care and research center, surgery, muscat, Oman.
Sultan Qaboos Cancer care and research center, nursing, muscat, Oman.
Sultan Qaboos Cancer care and research center, medical oncology, muscat, Oman.
Abstract
Clinicopathological, patterns of care and outcome of soft tissue tumors in a tertiary center in Oman, a mixed cohort study over 14 years.
Connective tissue tumors are a wide spectrum of disease ranging from benign, to intermediate to malignant and they can affect any part of the body. The diversity in clinical presentational and behaviors makes the diagnosis and management of such diseases challenging. This study presents the unique features of soft tissue tumors in Arab population in a cancer center in Oman over a 20-year period.
A retrospective analysis was conducted on a cohort of patients diagnosed with connective tissue tumors between 2010 and 2024 in a tertiary cancer center. Data retrieved from electronic medical records included demographic information, clinical presentation, histopathological findings, treatment modalities and follow-up records until Dec 2024. The study included consecutive patients diagnosed with soft tissue tumors over the study period. Osseous tumors and gastrointestinal stromal tumors were excluded. Statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics and survival analysis were performed.
After applying the inclusion criteria, 228 patients were identified and evaluated. The 2020 WHO soft tissue neoplasm classification was used to categorize them. Myofibroblastic origin tumors were the commonest accounting for 39% of all cases, with Desmoid-Like Fibromatosis as the commonest entity. Followed by tumors of Uncertain differentiation with Synovial sarcoma as its prevalent subcategory. Preivascular tumors were of the least common subtype, accounting for less than 2%. The median age at diagnosis was 41.8 years with a slight female predominance. Limbs were the comments site seen accounting for 34% of cases, followed by trunk (22%) and intra-abdominal and retroperitoneum (10, 8%). Almost half of the patients (48%) presented with a mass, others presented with pain (15.8%) bleeding or were detected incidentally. Surgical resection was done on 84% of the patients including wide local excision, multivisceral resection and even cytoreductive surgery and Heated Intra Peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Tow third of the patients received some form of radiation during their treatment. Details about systemic management and overall outcome were also evaluated and reported.
Our study evaluated the presentation soft tissue tumors in Omani individuals and different treatment patterns and outcome. There are very spars information about soft tissue tumors among Arabs overall and Omani?s specifically and this study can help to build a foundation for understanding this disease in the area at a deeper level in parallel to the current information we have about Asian and European population.
