Saudi Gazette A blessing that practically everyone takes for granted is the ability to breathe freely and easily, without even once thinking about it. People with chronic breathing obstruction can understand the immensity of this blessing. People who suffer from chronic lung disease need a lung transplantation to lead a normal life as not even artificial respiration helps in such a situation The chief executive officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSHRC), Dr. Qasim Al-Qasabi, said that the number of lung transplantation at the KFSHRC in Riyadh has increased by 71 percent in the past year. During the year 2010, seven operations of lung transplantation were performed, whereas last year, 12 lung transplantation operations were performed, and the success rate for these operations is 84 percent due to the highly qualified medical team at the hospital. During a press release Al-Qasabi said that there is a grave need to multiply efforts in providing more and proper lung transplants in the Kingdom as patients suffering with chronic, irreparable lung problems is on the higher side. Although lung transplants can extend life expectancy and enhance the quality of life, the operation carries certain risks, such as infection or rejection of the transplanted lung. That is why the expertise and skills of a host of hospital personnel join together to treat and support the lung transplant patient at KFSHRC both before and after the operation, including: the thoracic surgeon, consultant in lung transplantation, pharmacologist, dietician, social worker, physical therapist, and respiratory technician. There are several types of lung transplantation procedures. One type is the lobe transplant surgery, in which part of a living donor's lung is removed and used to replace part of the recipient's diseased lung. This procedure usually involves the donation of lobes from two different people, thus replacing a single lung in the recipient. In the transplantation of a single healthy lung, the donated lung typically comes from a donor who has been pronounced brain-dead, others may need transplantation for both lungs. The head of the lung transplant program in KFSHRC and pulmonary disorders and intensive care unit consultant, Dr. Eid Al-Mutairi, said, “The lung transplant program in the Kingdom has shown a big leap in the number of operations performed, considering the 19 lung transplantations performed in the hospital in the past two years. Previously, on an average only two lung transplantation operations a year were performed. The ages of the lung transplant patients in the year 2011 ranged from 16 years to 52 years which included seven men and five women. As for the types of lung transplantation, three patients required single lung transplant and nine required double lung transplants.” He said that the lung transplant recipients are now completely independent of their previous oxygen masks that used to accompany them wherever they went, and they are leading normal, healthy lives. The patients were able to return to school or work. One of the surgeon's patients is now in the process of continuing higher education and achieving his Master's Degree. Al-Mutairi also said that the medical staff is doing everything in its capacity to adopt the latest technologies in storing the donor lungs and keeping them viable until transplanted in the patient. Extensive tests must be conducted on both the donor and recipient to determine whether the lung is a suitable match or not. The hospital administration also plans to organize a number of training workshops to educate nurses and physicians who work in the intensive care unit on how they can help sustain the viability of organs from potential organ donors. __
