Sharjah: A 21-year-old Emirati, who became the UAE’s first recipient of an artificial heart two months ago, is on his way to Chicago, to have a natural heart transplant, Gulf News can exclusively reveal.
Early Monday, Salem Juma Mohammad Al Junaibi left Sharjah’s Al Qasimi Hospital in an ambulance for Abu Dhabi, from where he flew to Chicago, Dr Arif Al Nooryani, executive director and consultant cardiologist at Al Qasimi Hospital, told Gulf News.
He was accompanied by Dr Mohammad Abdul Aziz, consultant cardiologist at Al Qasimi Hospital.
Officials at the Chicago hospital said preparations are under way to receive the young patient.
Al Junaibi, who left the hospital with a big smile on his face, said he was grateful to the team of doctors who treated him.
On June 22 this year, Al Junaibi underwent an artificial heart transplant at the Al Qasimi Hospital. Part of Al Junaibi’s heart was removed and replaced with a Left Ventricle Assist Device or LVAD. The operation, which lasted five hours, cost around Dh1 million.
The device lasts for up to eight years but can last longer before the patient needs to undergo an organ transplant.
Dr Nooryani, the cardiologist who led the 30-member surgical team that operated on Al Junaibi, said the patient is in stable condition.
Al Junaibi was first referred to Al Qasimi Hospital on June 11 in poor condition. “Two days later, he had a cardiac arrest and we thought we had lost him,” said Dr Nooryani, adding, “He was clinically dead.
“After we noticed his heart had stopped beating, we connected his femoral artery with an external pump that takes over the cardiac function.” A neurologist was then called in who noticed some brain activity, at which point, the team decided to go for an artificial heart transplant.
“We took out a piece of heart muscle — double the size of a dirham coin — and implanted the LVAD, which took over the function of the left ventricle,” Dy Nooryani said, adding that this device also aided the right ventricle and normal pumping was restored.
“Over the past weeks, Al Junaibi suffered from infections and fever which is not related to the installed pump,” he said. “We kept him in the hospital to follow up on his condition. He is gradually recovering. We faced serious issues but we managed to deal with them,” he said.
Al Junaibi was supposed to leave the hospital 15 days after the surgery. “However, the infections and fever forced us to keep him in the hospital for longer,” explained Dr Nooryani.
The patient’s artificial heart is working well, he said, and “the medical team, here and abroad, follows up his condition via a WhatsApp group of more than 40 physicians and heart surgeons. They get direct reports every ten minutes.”
Meanwhile, Al Qasimi Hospital received three new patients suffering from heart failure.
Commenting on the significance of this landmark surgery, Dr Nooryani said: “It will help in reducing mortality and we get more time for organ transplants… as a centre, we are using the best technology in management of cardiac ailments and our next step would be a full organ transplant… this has been a learning curve for all of us.”
