The success of the first heart transplant using a robot represents a qualitative shift in surgical practices for heart transplantation
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in the capital succeeded Saudi Arabia Riyadh performs the world’s first robotic heart transplant on a patient under 16 years of age who suffered from stage 4 heart failure.
#Specialized Successfully performs the world’s first robotic heart transplant pic.twitter.com/3g2IV51HWe
— King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (@KFSHRC) September 12, 2024
According to the Saudi Press Agency:SPA“The operation took three hours, and was carried out by an exceptional medical team, led by the consultant cardiac surgeon and head of the cardiac surgery department, Saudi surgeon Dr. Firas Khalil, after weeks of preparations, starting with detailed theoretical planning to ensure accuracy, reduce potential risks, and devise a surgical methodology to reach the heart, complete the removal process and transplant the heart to the patient without cutting the rib cage. This was followed by applying it virtually seven consecutive times over three days to verify the effectiveness of the innovative methodology.
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 provided a detailed explanation of the operation plan, accurately explaining the roles of each individual, ensuring the safety of the patient and the success of the operation.
The operation 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.
The CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Dr. Majid Al Fayyadh, described this achievement as a significant development in heart transplant operations since the historic moment when the world witnessed the first heart transplant in the 1960s, noting that “the success of the first heart transplant using a robot represents a transformation, not only in the path of the specialist, but also in the Kingdom’s path towards global leadership in specialized medicine, in line with Vision 2030, which places innovation at the heart of its efforts to improve the quality of life.”
King Faisal Specialist Hospital successfully performs the world’s first robotic heart transplant for a 16-year-old patient suffering from stage IV heart failure. The operation took three hours. The move comes as part of the hospital’s efforts to adopt the latest medical technologies and improve patient care. pic.twitter.com/i1tVno0a3s
— Saudi Projects (@SaudiProject) September 12, 2024
Al Fayyadh added: “The qualitative achievement that has been made today would not have been possible without the continuous support of our wise leadership, which has made developing the health sector a top priority, paving the way for achieving a qualitative shift in the level of health services and opening new horizons for improving the quality of life of patients locally and internationally.”
This achievement comes within the framework of the “Specialized” continuous commitment to innovation in medical practices, and harnessing all capabilities to improve treatment outcomes, patient experience, and operational efficiency, to be the ideal choice for every patient in the field of providing specialized healthcare, and to make its services available to a wider segment of beneficiaries.
As a training center specializing in robotic organ transplant surgery, the hospital contributes to enhancing global understanding of minimally invasive organ transplant procedures, by cooperating with medical institutions around the world, to qualify their medical cadres in order to achieve better results, as part of its efforts to advance medical practices globally.
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, among the list of the top 250 academic healthcare institutions around the world, and the most valuable healthcare brand in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, according to “Finance Brand” for the year 2024. In the same year, it was also ranked among the top 250 hospitals in the world by Newsweek magazine.
