Hamad Hospital performs kidney transplant from brain-deceased child to adult patient

Hamad Hospital performs kidney transplant

Hamad General Hospital (HGH) successfully performed a kidney transplant surgery in collaboration with Sidra Medicine on September 11. The surgery involved transplanting kidneys from a brain-deceased child to a 48-year-old adult patient. 

Dr Yousuf Al Maslamani, Medical Director of Hamad General Hospital and Head of the Kidney Transplant Section at HMC, explained that this collaboration between the two organizations aims to enhance and develop the organ transplantation program in Qatar. 

"This surgery is a result of the cooperation agreement recently signed between HMC and Sidra Medicine. The agreement allows Hamad General Hospital to access organs from donors at Sidra, particularly for emergency cases requiring organ transplants," said Dr Al Maslamani. 

Dr. Abu Bakr Imam, Nephrology Division Chief at Sidra Medicine, explained that the family of the brain-deceased child offered to donate their child's organs immediately upon learning of the tragic news of his brain-death. Consequently, a medical team from HGH promptly traveled to Sidra Medicine to assess kidney and other organ functions.

Dr. Imam noted that the collaboration between the two institutions in the field of organ transplantation has been ongoing since the opening of Sidra Medicine in 2018. The hospital’s nephrology service is a unified and coordinated program aimed at advancing the field of organ transplantation in Qatar. The fore mentioned kidney transplant surgery is the first of its kind, where organs were transferred from Sidra Medicine to a patient at Hamad General Hospital. Previously, both Sidra Medicine and Hamad Medical Corporation had performed several organ transplant surgeries, involving donors from Hamad and recipient children from Sidra Medicine.

“After ensuring the safety of the kidneys, they were removed from the brain-deceased child to be transplanted into the recipient patient. The removal surgery began at Sidra Medicine under the supervision of a joint medical team from Sidra Medicine and HMC, before the kidneys were transferred directly to Hamad General Hospital,” added Dr. Imam. 

After confirming the compatibility of the kidneys with the recipient's blood type and genetic profile using pre-registered data, the transplant surgery was performed on the same day and lasted approximately 8 hours. 

The recipient explained that he had been suffering from kidney failure for nearly 7 years and undergoing dialysis at Al Khor Hospital. “I received a call from Hamad General Hospital to proceed with the transplant after completing all medical protocols. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the donor family who gave me this precious gift of life after my long battle with illness,” said the organ recipient. 

The double kidney transplant came as a surprise to the recipient, as it's commonly believed that humans can live with only one functioning kidney. Dr. Al Maslamani clarified this point, explaining that in children, two kidneys function similarly to one in adults. He added that since the beginning of medical cooperation between Hamad General Hospital and Sidra Medicine, they have successfully performed two additional kidney transplant surgeries involving donors from HMC. Furthermore, they have recently received approval for organ donation from another patient in the intensive care unit.

On another note, the father of the brain-deceased child expressed that their son had been battling illness since the age of six months. Upon learning of their son's tragic demise, he and his wife decided to donate their child's organs to help others in need.