First Positive Living Donor Kidney Transplantation at SKMC

The first successful positive cross match (PXM)-desensitization living donor kidney transplantation was performed lately at Sheikh Khalifa Medical city (SKMC), managed by Cleveland Clinic, a SEHA healthsystem facility. Since the Multi-organ Transplantation program at SKMC commenced in February 2008, 21 kidney transplants have been performed.

The 50 year old patient, Abdul Ameer (Quality Surveyor), suffered from kidney failure for the last three years and had been on hemodialysis since then at SKMC in Abu Dhabi. He has lived in Abu Dhabi for the past 15 years. He has struggled with being on hemodialysis as there was no transplant program at the time his kidneys failed. His 36 year old wife stepped in and offered her kidney. She said, “He is my life partner, and I want to spend more time with him. I didn’t think twice and offered him my kidney.”They then visited their home country, India, to get the kidney transplant done.

However, when they did the matching tests, they found out that the husband had antibodies against his wife which meant that if his wife’s kidney had been transplanted, it would have been rejected right away. Thus, he was told that the operation could not be done in India and then he came back to Abu Dhabi.Months later, while he was on dialysis at SKMC, he was informed about the opening of the multi-organ transplantation program at SKMC and that he could be a good candidate for a kidney transplant. The required tests were done in June 2009 by a multidisciplinary team who also confirmed that he had antibodies against his wife but informed him that his wife was still an appropriate donor.

However, at SKMC, the transplant team had instituted specific and complex procedures that could remove the antibodies from the patient’s blood. Dr. Abrar Khan, Senior Consultant and Director, Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, stated that “We arranged a series of tests for them to make sure both were fit for transplantation and donation.

He visits the multi-organ transplantation clinic regularly for his monthly follow-up visits. He said, “We are very pleased with the service we were offered; and the professionalism and dedication of the transplant team at SKMC. I would like to thank first the leader of the UAE, H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, H.H. Sheikh Mohamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their leadership and generosity and the government of the UAE for the latest developments that we are all witnessing especially in the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi.

Share/Save