Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Completes UAE’s First Full Heart Transplant
While saving the life of an Emirati patient with late-stage heart disease, surgeons at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi completed the UAE’s first full heart transplant. The historic transplant came just a few months after legislation was passed in the UAE to allow transplants from deceased donors, and a few days after the Clinic finished installing Phoenix, Epic’s transplant software.
“The donor heart started beating immediately after implantation,” said Dr. Johannes Bonatti, chief of the Heart and Vascular Institute and member of the surgical team. Two other patients also received organs from the same donor, bringing the total number of lives saved to three.
According to Dr. Feras Bader, the director of the Clinic’s heart failure and transplant program, the donor heart became available “the same day that the world was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the world’s first heart transplant in 1967.”
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