Emirati girl youngest in ME to get heart transplant

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre’s (KFSH&RC) pediatric cardiac surgery team successfully performed consecutive heart transplants on two children within 24 hours in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Before the surgeries, the transplant recipients - an Emirati girl aged less than eight months and a 19-month-old Saudi girl - were in critical condition due to heart failure necessitating the installation of temporary artificial pumps.

The girls were also placed in intensive care units while awaiting transplants

The transplants required highly qualified professionals, advanced medical infrastructure, and international logistical support and cooperation.

For the first surgery, KFSH&RC’s surgical team travelled to Dubai to perform a heart removal surgery on a deceased donor.

The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, the Saudi Ministry of Defence’s aeromedical evacuation team, and UAE’s National Centre for Regulating Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue played instrumental roles in facilitating the expeditious travel and logistics between Dubai and Riyadh.

As a result of the successful transfer and surgery, the Emirati transplant recipient, who is less than eight months old, has become the youngest child in the Middle East to undergo a heart transplant.

As for the second surgery, KFSH&RC’s surgery team, in cooperation with the Saudi Ministry of Defence’s aeromedical evacuation team, travelled to Makkah Al Mukarramah to remove the heart of a deceased donor, which was then transported and transplanted in 19-month-old patient, based in Riyadh.

After the procedures, both girls’ condition has been steadily improving, and they are monitored via regular medical check-ups by KFSH&RC’s multidisciplinary and highly-specialised team.

The Organ Transplant Centre for children and adults at KFSH&RC is the largest in the Middle East.

The centre’s achievements are at par with the global benchmarks, and since its establishment in 1988, the centre has successfully performed over 431 heart transplants.

KFSH&RC is a leading tertiary and quaternary healthcare provider in the Middle East. KFSH&RC’s mission is to provide the highest level of specialized healthcare in an integrated educational and research setting.

KFSH&RC has a rich history of providing high-quality clinical services, including leading-edge treatments in oncology, transplantation, cardiovascular diseases, neurosciences, and genetics.

In April last year, Burjeel Medical City’s Bone marrow transplant unit has successfully performed the very first bone marrow transplant from a donor to a child in the UAE.