The operation took three hours, and was carried out by a medical team, led by Saudi cardiac surgery consultant Dr. Firas Khalil, after weeks of preparations.
King Faisal Specialist Hospital succeeded Research Center in Saudi Arabia In performing the world’s first robotic heart transplant, for a patient under the age of sixteen who suffered from stage IV heart failure, overcoming all the medical challenges and complications that accompany this type From operations.
The heart transplant operation took three hours, and was carried out by a medical team led by Saudi cardiac surgery consultant Dr. Firas Khalil, after weeks of preparations, starting with detailed theoretical planning to ensure accuracy, and devising a surgical methodology to reach the heart, and complete the removal and heart transplantation process for the patient without cutting the rib cage, followed by applying it virtually seven consecutive times over three days to verify the effectiveness of the innovative methodology.
Heart transplant
After obtaining the approval of the hospital’s medical committee and the patient’s family, Dr. Firas Khalil began forming a medical team to complete the mission, making harmony and consistency among the team members a priority. Before entering the operating rooms, the team leader gave a detailed explanation of the operation plan, explaining the roles of each individual precisely, to ensure the safety of the patient and the success of the operation.
The achievement represents a qualitative shift in surgical practices for heart transplantation, from the rib cage incision that imposes a long recovery period on the patient extending for weeks and perhaps months, restricting him from performing his simplest daily activities, to the use of robotic techniques that allow the operation to be performed with the least possible surgical intervention, which reduces pain, shortens the recovery period, and limits the possibility of complications, thus achieving a qualitative leap in improving the quality of life of patients and accelerating their recovery from health.
It is noteworthy that King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre was ranked first in the Middle East and Africa and 20th globally, for the second year in a row, within the list of the best 250 academic healthcare institutions around the world according to “Finance Brand”, and was also ranked among the best 250 hospitals in the world by Newsweek magazine.
