United Arab Emirates: Surgeries save life of 16-year-old boy who had a single pumping chamber in his heart

The team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at SKMC, a public hospital, performed an interventional procedure in which a therapeutic cardiac catheter was inserted in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, which partially diverted blood flow from the superior vena cava directly to the pulmonary arteries, allowing more blood to reach and have oxygen uptake in the lung.

This resulted in a “notable improvement” in the patient’s condition and paved the way for the second surgery known as the Fontan Procedure. This surgery diverted blood from the inferior vena cava directly to the pulmonary arteries, allowing the functional ventricle to pump oxygenated blood to the body. As a result, the patient’s heart began to function better, supplying the body with oxygenated blood.

Commenting on the procedure, Saeed Al Kuwaiti, CEO of Seha, which operates all public hospitals and clinics in Abu Dhabi, said: “At Seha, we are able to leverage world-class surgical expertise and advanced medical facilities to create a procedure “This success is not only a testament to our surgical excellence across the Seha network, but also to PureHealth’s strategic foresight.”