The effects of the medical achievement of Ain Shams University doctors and the success of the first lung transplant in Egypt and the Arab world within Ain Shams University hospitals, sponsored by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of the University, and the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ahmed Mostafa, head of the medical team for lung transplantation at Ain Shams Specialized Hospital, received wide media attention.
Where program broadcast “Yahdoth fi Masr” on (MBC Egypt) a dialogue with Prof. Dr. Ahmed Mostafa, head of the lung transplantation unit at Ain Shams Medicine, reveals through it the details of the Egyptian medical achievement by transplanting lungs from two living people to their sister.
The program “Kelam Akhera” broadcast on “ONE” satellite channel, Monday evening, dedicated a presentation about the success of a team from Aish Shams University in conducting the first lung transplant in Egypt.
Prof. Dr. Walid Anwar, Director of Ain Shams Specialized Hospital, said that the hospital began forty years ago, and organ transplant operations began in 2008 with liver and kidney transplantation, and lung transplantation research papers were part of the plan to develop the field of organ transplantation since 2018, indicating that the infrastructure was prepared to be The hospital is equipped at the highest level to receive kidney transplant patients, and equipment has been purchased that is the highest in the level and was not present in Egypt. It consists of endoscopes and advanced equipment to be ready to perform the first lung transplant in Egypt.
While Dr. Ahmed Mustafa, Professor of Thoracic Surgery at Ain Shams University and Director of the Lung Transplant Project at Ain Shams University, said that the idea began years ago and was a dream, and they had a desire to realize the dream, especially since thousands of patients have been exposed to chronic pulmonary fibrosis since the beginning of the Corona pandemic crisis.
He added that institutional communication has been made with Japan, as it specializes in lung transplantation from donations from living people, saying: “We almost worked as a purely Japanese unit in Ain Shams Specialist Hospital to make the first lung transplant successful in Egypt,” explaining: “We presented the matter (idea). The donation) on the siblings, one of whom was two years younger than her and the other two years older than her. Stressing that the challenge was in the "anesthesia" process, as the chance of death was high until the anesthesia was done.
He appealed to the citizens to help the girl’s brothers, considering that they work in seasonal work and are construction workers, saying: “We want people to help them while they are still in the hospital with the help of letting them be able to keep living costs with them during the next short period because they will need a period of recovery, but the costs of the operation were not borne by the family at all and it is at the expense of Ain Shams"
In the same context, Dr. Mohamed Hussein, a member of the university team’s success, explained that the process of preparing for the first lung transplant in Egypt began four years ago, followed by travel to Japan, and the trained team returned in early January 2020 before the start of the Corona pandemic, stressing that Egypt is considered the first Arab and African country to perform The process of transplanting organs from living donors after Japan, where it is customary to be done from recently deceased people.
He emphasized: "During my 18-year career, I participated in about 300 lung surgeries, but the case of the girl Sahar is the dearest to my heart, because it is a challenge, in addition to the donation this time from living people."
While Sahar’s brother, Kamel Rabei, concluded the first case of a lung transplant in Egypt, saying that he is two years older than his sister, and they belong to Fayoum Governorate, and that his sister has been suffering from respiratory failure for a long time, and she was living on oxygen devices. In the recent period, she became dependent on two devices at the same time, and they did not succeed in treating her case.
And he indicated, in a phone call to the “Kelma Akhera” program on “ONE” satellite channel, on Monday evening, that they went to several hospitals to reach the Ain Shams Specialized Hospital, and there were no options to save his sister, saying: “The doctors were talking to us transparently and told us about the opportunities and challenges, and we were afraid.” Because her case was difficult and she did not have to donate. The important thing is that she is cured and I am getting better now.”
A specialized medical team performed the first lung transplant in Egypt, after many months of preparation, to usher the country into a new phase in the field of organ transplantation.
A girl of about thirty years of age underwent the first operation of its kind inside Ain Shams Specialist Hospital in Cairo, after suffering from respiratory failure, as her two brothers donated two lung lobe, while the surgery was performed in 3 operating rooms in parallel in the presence of doctors with many medical specialties, led by chest pathologists and thoracic surgery, anesthesia and cardiovascular.