Monitoring Desk
RIYADH: The paediatric cardiac surgery team of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre performed consecutive successful heart transplants on two infants within 24 hours in Riyadh.
Ahead of the surgeries, the transplant recipients — two Saudi Arabian girls, a 19-month-old baby and an under-8-month-old infant — were in critical condition due to heart failure. The girls were admitted to the intensive care units while awaiting transplant surgeries.
The transplant surgeries required advanced medical infrastructure, highly qualified professionals, and international logistical cooperation and support. For the first surgery, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre’s surgical team travelled to Dubai to carry out heart removal surgery on a deceased donor.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense’s aeromedical evacuation team, the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Centre for Regulating Donation and Transplantation of Tissue and Human Organs played instrumental roles in facilitating the logistics and travels between Riyadh and Dubai.
Successful heart transplant of Saudi girls
After the successful transfer and surgery, the 8-month-old infant has become the youngest child in the Middle East region to undergo a heart transplant.
For the second heart surgery, KFSHRC’s surgery team, in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Defense’s aeromedical evacuation team, travelled to Makkah to remove the heart of a deceased donor and was then transported and transplanted in the 19-month-old baby.
After the procedures, the condition of both girls has been steadily improving, and they are monitored through regular medical check-ups by KFSHRC’s specialized team.
The Organ Transplant Centre for adults and children at KFSHRC is the largest in the Middle East. The centre’s achievements are on par with the global benchmarks, and since its establishment in 1988, the centre has successfully carried out over 431 heart transplants.
