RIYADH: In a groundbreaking international achievement, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC) has successfully conducted the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant on a 16-year-old patient suffering from last-stage heart failure, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.
This achievement reinforces Saudi Arabia’s leadership in healthcare and highlights KFSHRC’s ability to innovate medical practices.
The surgery, which took two and a half hours, was performed by an exceptional medical team led by the head of Cardiac Surgery and Director of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at KFSHRC Saudi cardiac surgeon Dr. Feras Khaliel, after weeks of meticulous preparation. The process started with detailed theoretical planning to ensure precision and minimize potential risks. The team then devised a surgical approach to evaluate the heart and perform the transplant without opening the chest of the patient.
The team practised the procedure virtually seven times over three days before performing the procedure on the patient to ensure the effectiveness of the innovative approach.
After receiving approval from the medical committee of the hospital and the patient’s family, Dr. Khaliel assembled a medical team prioritizing consonance and coordination among its members.
Before the surgery, the team leader briefed the team on the operation plan, clearly defining each member’s role to ensure the patient’s safety and the procedure’s success.
This is a significant shift in heart transplant surgery, moving away from traditional chest-opening procedures that need long recovery periods, often lasting weeks or months, and limiting the patient’s ability to perform basic daily activities.
Robotic technology allows for minimally invasive surgery, shortening recovery time, reducing pain, and minimizing the risk of complications. This also improves patients’ quality of life and accelerates their recovery.
KFSHRC CEO Dr. Majid Al Fayyad hailed this achievement as a significant advancement in heart transplantation since the historic first heart transplant conducted in the 1960s. He added that the success of the world’s first robotic heart transplant marks a transformative leap, not only for the institution but also for Saudi Arabia’s journey toward global leadership in specialized medicine, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
The achievement aligns with KFSHRC’s ongoing commitment to medical innovation. As a leading training center in robotic organ transplant surgeries, KFSHRC contributes to advancing the global understanding of minimally invasive organ transplants by collaborating with medical institutions across the world to train their medical teams and achieve better outcomes.
