02-February-10:

For the ninth time, thanks to the success granted by God, Lung Transplant operation has been successfully performed for a man and a woman in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah Branch.

In a rare operation which lasted for 14 hours, a Lung Transplant Surgery was successfully performed in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah Branch for a 27 years old woman after a complete disability and chronic lung failure caused by bronchiectasis, which hinders her from practicing her daily life activities, and her an oxygen dependant permanently. She did not benefit from any medication during the last period Her name was in the waiting list among those patients who need for lung donation from brain dead patients. She was lucky to receive two lungs from a dead donor.

The operation has been successfully performed and was led by qualified Saudi medical consultants like, Dr. Iskandar Al Githmi, Consultant Cardio-thoracic surgery, Dr. Salim Alfaifi, Consultant Pulmonary Diseases and Lung Transplant and, Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Dr. Muhammad Al-Harbi. The patient’s post operation condition was stable; she is now under the therapeutic hospital observation. There are no indications, God forbid, for the rejection of the patient’s body to the transplanted lungs, and she will resume her normal life activities in few days.

At the same time there was another 58 years old patient suffering from Lung Fibrosis and an oxygen dependant, who has left lung transplant operation, performed successfully, and was weaned of ventilators on the second day of the operation. The transplanted Lung functions are now working fully. It is worth mentioning that this is the ninth successful operation performed in KFSHRC – Jeddah Branch, and the Lung Transplanted patients led their lives normally.

Such operations were performed in the past in the state of the art international health centers in the USA and Canada, but now, thanks to the medical technology available in KFSHRC- Jeddah Branch, and to the skilled performance of the qualified Saudi medical doctors, such operations are now carried out in-house easily and conveniently.

Dr. Alfaifi added that, we need to activate the policy of organ donation in the case of brain death to save human souls; there is a long waiting list of patients suffering from lung failure who need to have lung transplant surgery to live a normal life.

Such operations performed outside the Kingdom, is costing more than half a million dollars and constitute an economic burden on the Kingdom and the citizen, where they can be easily performed in-house at a cost of one hundred thousand Saudi Riyals.

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah Branch will soon say good bye to the two patients wishing them all the success in their new life. This lung transplant operation was considered one of the significant achievements of KFSHRC- Jeddah Branch, at both medical and research level for the welfare of the citizen and the future of their health, and to assure the pioneer role of the hospital in treating intractable diseases and moving towards our mission for which the hospital was established.