The organ transplant team at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Hamad General Hospital has successfully performed Qatar’s first ever liver transplant from a living donor, it was announced on Wedneday.
The latest transplant, which took place in November, takes the total number of liver transplants to 17 since the commencement of the transplant programme at HMC.
Each year, between 20 and 25 patients are added to the waiting list for organ transplant in Qatar.
Dr Yousef al-Maslamani, medical director of Hamad General Hospital and head of the Organ Transplant Committee, said the latest transplant was planned and performed by HMC’s highly qualified team of liver transplant surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and technicians.
"The procedure consisted of the partial resection of the donor’s liver, which took eight hours to complete, and the removal of the recipient’s liver, which failed because of cirrhosis.
Implanting the donated portion of the liver in the recipient’s body took 12 hours to complete.
This successful transplant procedure also saw the participation of a team of visiting Korean organ transplant surgeons.
“There are future plans to increase liver transplants in Qatar from live and brain-dead donors.
HMC's Qatar Centre for Organ Transplantation and the Qatar Organ Donation Centre (Hiba) are relentless in their efforts to encourage new organ donors to enrol in the donor registry, with the ultimate goal of helping patients who are currently awaiting a lifesaving transplant,” added Dr al-Maslamani.
Dr Hatem Khalaf, senior consultant and clinical lead, HMC’s HPB and Liver Transplant Services, who led the local transplant team, pointed out that there are certain criteria that both a donor and recipient should meet before a procedure can be done.
"The criteria for the donor include motivation to donate the organ for altruistic reasons, verification of the relation of donor to the recipient, compatibility of blood type with the recipient and being between the ages of 18 and 45 and free from chronic diseases.
“In the case of the recent transplant, the right lobe of the donor’s liver, totalling 65% of the liver mass, was resected and implanted in the recipient’s body, following the removal of the cirrhosis-ridden liver. The donor recovered and was discharged from hospital one week after the procedure. The recipient remained under the care of HMC for two weeks and was then discharged,” explained Dr Khalaf.
The organ recipient, 58 year-old Ashraf Zaid, expressed gratitude to the leadership of Qatar and HMC for the exceptional care provided to him.
Zaid recalled he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 2014 and immediately provided with the necessary treatment.
"In 2016, I developed a liver tumour and needed to undergo chemotherapy. However, my healthcare team concluded that a liver transplant was the only way to save my life. Therefore, doctors started with the required preoperative tests with the hope of finding a donor in my household.
“Unfortunately, organ donation by my son was not possible due to blood-type incompatibility so I went back home to Egypt in search of a possible donor. While in Egypt, I received a call from Hamad General Hospital advising that a donor was found and I had to return to Doha. Upon arrival in Doha, I was surprised to find out that the donor was my nephew, Usama Taher Zaid,” he added.
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