The Organ Transplant Team at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Hamad
General Hospital has successfully performed Qatar’s second ever liver
transplant from a living donor. The country’s first liver transplant
from a living donor was performed at the end of last year.
The
recipient of this latest transplant, which took place earlier this
month, was a 40-year-old Egyptian man who had been suffering from
chronic liver disease. His 30-year-old brother donated part of his liver
for the procedure.
Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, Medical Director of
Hamad General Hospital and Director of the Qatar Center for Organ
Transplantation said living donor liver transplantations are very
complex.
“The transplant was planned and performed by HMC’s
highly qualified team of liver transplant surgeons, anesthetists,
nurses, and technicians. World-renowned Japanese liver transplant
surgeon Professor Yasuhiro Ogura supervised the procedures. In a living
donor transplant, both the donor and the recipient undergo surgery
simultaneously, with the donor’s surgery beginning a few hours in
advance of the recipient’s surgery. Successful living-donor
transplantation is complex and requires high levels of coordination,
teamwork, and clinical expertise,” said Dr. Al Maslamani.
He
added that working with international specialists who are leaders in
their field is in line with efforts to provide patients with access to
renowned experts while also continuing to enhance the quality of
healthcare services at HMC.
“The future of our population’s
health and well-being depends on supplementing our existing expertise
and this means working in close partnership with a wide array of leading
international agencies and institutions to ensure our self-sufficiency.
We remain focused on becoming a regional center of excellence in
multi-organ transplantation.”
“Since the launch of the Qatar
Organ Donation Center (HIBA), we have developed a robust deceased organ
donation program. We are continuing to work to expand this program,
raising public awareness about organ donation and the importance of
registering as an organ donor. There are currently over a quarter of a
million registered organ donors in the country, but the need for organ
donors has never been greater. Choosing to become an organ donor truly
is a life-saving decision,” Dr. Al Maslamani.
The organ
transplant recipient is comfortably recovering at his home and has
thanked HMC for the high-quality care he received before and after his
operation. To date, five liver transplants have been carried out in
Qatar during 2017, with a one hundred percent success rate.
