Dr Redha Souilamas performs the surgery on the 45-year-old expat mother of six in Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi - The most difficult part was waiting for the donor.
Published: Sun 24 Jun 2018, 9:00 PM
Last updated: Sun 24 Jun 2018, 11:59 PM
Organ transplant has taken another historical step in the UAE, with the country's very first cadaver double-lung transplant surgery successfully done on a 45-year-old expat mother of six in Abu Dhabi.
On June 10, multidisciplinary teams of surgeons at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), performed three transplant surgeries from just one deceased donor on the same day and on three different patients, including the UAE's first double-lung transplant.
Besides, a kidney from the same donor was swiftly transported for a transplant operation at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC).
Dr Redha Souilamas, chair of thoracic surgery at CCAD, who led the double-lung transplant, told Khaleej Times the surgery took just over five hours to complete, after which, the patient "woke up like a new born baby, because she was finally able to breathe."
"The day after the transplant, she woke up and was looking around her with new eyes, I have never seen a patient do this. She was looking around and asking, 'where is my oxygen machine,' and we told her she doesn't need that anymore."
Dr Souilamas said the patient was suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive disease that causes extensive scarring of the lungs, and which has no cure.
He said after 10 years of suffering from the disease, living on oxygen machines and carried on a wheelchair, the patient finally received a new chance at a normal life.
Patients are typically given just a three-to five-year survival rate after diagnosis.
"If we didn't do the surgery, the patient would have unfortunately died by this disease," added Dr Souilamas, who has performed a whopping 150 double-lung transplants in the past 10 years.
He stressed that the most difficult part was waiting for the donor, adding that "the enemy of organ transplant is the time."
Dr Souilamas said the patient showed immense bravery before her life-saving surgery. "'She said: I know there is a risk of death, bleeding and rejection, but I trust you."
The doctor used an innovative, minimally invasive approach without the need for a cardiopulmonary bypass, making two small incisions on either side of the patient's chest to complete the operation. This ensures a faster recovery time; shorter hospital stay; and little to no scarring, compared with the standard approach. He said the patient was crying from happiness, moments after waking up.
"She started to learn how to breathe normal on her own, because for years and years, she couldn't breathe."
The patient went home just nine days after the surgery.
He said that prior to bringing the life-saving treatment to the UAE, patients had to travel abroad for six months to one year for the surgery.
Other transplants in June
Dr Antonio Pinna, transplant surgeon in the Digestive Disease Institute, led the team for the liver transplant for a female patient from Ras Al Khaimah, who was suffering from severe cirrhosis.
The doctors said the patient is recovering well following the operation.
Meanwhile, the kidney transplant operation, which was led by Dr Bashir Sankari, chair of the Surgical Subspecialties Institute and head of CCAD's transplant programme, provided another vital surgery for patient, who was on the hospital's transplant waiting list.
"It's worth reflecting on the incredible contribution that the donor and the donor's family have made by sharing their precious organs - four lives have been transformed by this selfless gift," said Dr Rakesh Suri, CEO, CCAD.
Meet the doctor who led surgery
Dr Redha Souilamas, who was the director of lung transplant programme for Cystic Fibrosis at European Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, before joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said he is certainly proud be marked in the UAE's medical history.
"As a team, we performed this procedure very smoothly - from the nursing to the ICU, to the surgeon. I felt that the whole world was on my shoulder. But when we started the operation, it was so smooth that I forgot I am doing the first double-lung transplant in the UAE."
He added that this is also the first time in medical history that a new hospital, which opened three years ago, performed a double-lung transplant. Dr Souilamas said the clinic currently has four patients on the double-lung waiting list, all of them are Emiratis. "The UAE is a new country and within a very short time, the government and leadership of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi showed that it was possible, because even if you're very good surgeon - without the teamwork and leadership's support - you cannot do it."
Some major transplants
2017
September 24
>Dr Bashir Sankari, head of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi's transplant programme and chief of the Surgical Subspecialties Institute, performed the hospital's first deceased kidney transplant on a 40-year-old female Emirati patient.
December 5
> The UAE's first full heart transplant was performed by a surgical team that included Dr Rakesh Suri, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. On the same day, a patient received a kidney from the same deceased donor, while a patient at SKMC received the second kidney.
2018
February 1
>A five-person medical and surgical team led by Dr Antonio Pinna, Transplant Surgeon at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, performed the UAE's first liver transplant.
February 11
>Dr Redha Souilamas, chair of Thoracic Surgery, performed the UAE's first single-lung transplant on an Emirati patient.
June 10
>Multidisciplinary surgical teams perform three transplant surgeries on the same day - liver, kidney and the UAE's first double-lung surgery.
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com
iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
