UAE’s brain-dead donor’s heart saves 7-year-old Saudi boy’s life

A brain-dead donor from Abu Dhabi has given a new lease of life to a seven-year-old Saudi boy suffering from advanced heart failure, after doctors in Riyadh performed a life-saving heart transplant.

The complex procedure took place at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC) in Riyadh. It was carried out following donor family consent and all regulatory approvals, with close coordination between the Saudi Centre for Organ Transplantation and the UAE's National Programme for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue (Hayat).

The life-saving operation required meticulous medical and logistical coordination. The process began with organ extraction, followed by air transportation to Riyadh in a private aircraft, and concluded with the preparation of operating theatres in record time. The transplant was performed within a critically time-sensitive window, ultimately saving the life of a child who had no other treatment options.

The boy had been suffering from advanced heart failure caused by a complex congenital heart defect. After exhausting all available treatments, including medications, respiratory support, and pacemaker implantation, without significant improvement, he was placed on the urgent transplant list.

Medical standards dictate that the period between removing the heart from the donor and transplanting it into the patient must not exceed five hours to ensure success. This tight timeframe presents significant logistical challenges, especially when the brain-dead donor is located overseas or in another region of Saudi Arabia. Every minute of delay can be crucial to the operation’s outcome.

The transplant was the result of ongoing coordination between medical teams in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, reflecting humanitarian cooperation aimed at saving critically ill patients.

The KFSHRC Heart Centre is recognised as one of the world’s leading cardiac centres, having achieved exceptional milestones, including the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant and the first robotic artificial heart pump implantation without a chest incision