King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh has restored hope to three patients (two men and a child) of different ages, suffering from weakness and failure of the heart muscle, after successfully transferring living hearts from donors in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh, to the hospital headquarters for transplantation to the three patients, within 24 hours.

The journey of restoring hope to the three patients began with the transfer of medical teams from the Heart Center at Al-Takhassusi Hospital to Abu Dhabi and Jeddah to remove the heart from brain-dead donors, and transport it by air via private plane to the capital, Riyadh. A medical team from Al-Takhassusi Hospital then moved to King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Riyadh to remove the third heart. After that, it was transported by ambulances in cooperation with the Riyadh Traffic Department, which contributed to accelerating the arrival of the three hearts within a short period of time, by escorting the ambulances from King Khalid International Airport and King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Riyadh to Al-Takhassusi Hospital, where the three transplant operations were performed in less than 24 hours.

The first patient was a nine-year-old girl suffering from a weak heart muscle. Her life was saved by implanting an artificial pump in her last March. She remained hospitalized because she could not depend on the pump, and she was waiting for a donor to be found. Through coordination between the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation and the National Program for Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation (Hayat) in the United Arab Emirates, a matching donor was found. As a result, the specialist medical team traveled from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi and performed the heart removal operation from the brain-dead donor (may God have mercy on him) at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

After that, the heart was airlifted to King Khalid International Airport, then by ambulance to the hospital headquarters in Riyadh, and transplanted into the child by a medical team led by senior consultant cardiac surgeon Dr. Zuhair Al-Halais. The child is currently under continuous medical follow-up.

At the same time, another medical team moved to King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Jeddah to remove the heart from a brain-dead donor (may God have mercy on him) and transport it to Riyadh. The heart transplant was successfully performed on the forty-year-old patient by a medical team led by Consultant Cardiac Surgeon and Head of the Heart Transplant Program at the Specialist Hospital, Dr. Firas Khalil.

A logistical challenge: coordination and cooperation

The third patient, aged 41, suffered from fourth-degree heart failure, and as a result, an artificial pump was implanted in him a year ago. When a brain-dead donor matching the patient became available at King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Riyadh, the medical team went to remove the heart from the donor and transport it to the hospital headquarters, where a medical team led by Dr. Firas Khalil implanted it in the patient. The operation was successful, and the patient is currently under medical follow-up.

Time is a crucial factor in the success of heart transplant operations. According to medical standards, the time period between removing the heart from the donor and transplanting it to the patient should not exceed 5 hours, in order to ensure the success of the heart transplant operation. This represents an additional logistical challenge in addition to the complexities of the medical procedure in cases where the brain-dead donor is in other regions within or outside the Kingdom, making every minute of delay a crucial factor in the success of the operation.

The heart transplant operations were not just a medical procedure, but a living example of cooperation that included completing all the regulatory procedures, obtaining the necessary approvals from the deceased’s family, and coordinating between the medical and field teams in the two countries, different regions and hospitals to restore hope to patients.