The doctors at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSHRC) in Saudi Arabia has successfully completed the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant on a 16-year-old teenager suffering from end-stage heart failure, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The two-and-a-half-hour duration procedure was performed on the patient of heart suffering from end-stage failure. Dr. Feras Khaliel, head of Cardiac Surgery and director of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at KFSHRC, with his medical team performed the surgery.
The team practiced the operation virtually seven times over three days before performing the real-life surgery. The meticulous use of robotic technology enabled the heart transplant surgery without he traditional method of opening the patient’s chest.
This use of technology in medical field shortens recovery time with reduction in pain and complication compared to open heart surgeries.
Last year KFSHRC was also successful in completing the world’s first fully robotic liver transplant on a 66 years old man.
KFSHRC CEO Dr. Majid Al-Fayyad hailed the surgery as a transformative leap in heart transplant surgery, first pioneered in the 1960s. He said, that “the success of the world’s first robotic heart transplant marks a transformative leap, not only for our institution but also for Saudi Arabia’s journey toward global leadership in specialized medicine, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, which places innovation at the core of its efforts to improve quality of life”.
“This remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the Saudi leadership, who have prioritized the development of the healthcare sector, paving the way for a transformative leap in health care services, unlocking new possibilities to elevate the quality of life for patients both locally and globally,” he added.
