From 700 to 1,200 liver transplant cases are handled in the Kingdom every year.
The liver, which plays an important role in many bodily functions, from protein production and blood clotting to cholesterol, glucose and iron metabolism, is the second most commonly transplanted organ in Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Al-Sebayel, the first Arab surgeon performing liver transplants and chairman of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery Department at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) in Riyadh, said: “We perform 2-3 successful transplants a week. Last year, we performed more than 100 transplants. This year, we reached 70 successful cases up until July.”
“Even though the most commonly known liver diseases are hepatitis B and C, caused by transfusion and misuse of needles, there is an emerging international liver ailment due to obesity-nonalcoholic fatty liver, which results in the inflammation of the liver,” Al-Sebayel said.
Liver disease is any disturbance of liver function that causes illness. The liver is responsible for many critical functions within the body and if it becomes diseased or injured, the loss of those functions can cause significant damage to the body. Liver disease is also referred to as hepatic disease.
“Over the past two decades, people have adopted an unhealthy lifestyle with outsized intake of fast food, besides lack of exercise. Therefore, this disease has become common in Saudi Arabia. This type of liver disease leads to the development of liver cancer as well,” he added.
There are other contributing factors that lead to liver diseases, such as family inherited diseases and metabolic diseases.
The interest in liver transplant in Saudi Arabia began in the late 1980s. Realizing that 5 percent of the population of the Kingdom has liver-related problems, the authorities initiated intensive research.
Sebayel said: “We reported many breakthroughs in liver diseases in the last few years. Thanks to these advances, there are now effective drugs and vaccinations for Hepatitis B and C that increase the cure rate by 70 percent. Therefore, the young generation is now immune to these two viruses. However, some of these medications can be costly, so we try to let treatment be accessible to the patients regardless of their financial state.”
“With the opening of the King Abdullah Transplant Center in a few years, we shall be able to accommodate higher numbers of patients and improve our health care system as a whole,” he said, adding, “We have also successfully developed medication used to decrease the percentage of body rejection to the new organ when transplanted.”
There is constant research on using cellular transplant (using stem cells), but this has yet to be applied in real situations. In fact, it will take a while before the replacement of the whole-organ transplant to cellular transplant takes place to make it feasible, he said.
Al-Sebayel said that there is a worldwide gap between the demand and the supply of organs. However, with living donor transplants performed at KFSH being limited to organs of deceased patients, it has far surpassed Western countries in quality as well as quantity.
Liver disease has always been surrounded by misconceptions, as the liver is the only organ that regenerates itself to 90 percent of its original size in just 6 months. An awareness campaign on how to deal with chronic health problems, including liver diseases, is a must.
“Most families cannot understand why there is a mismatch when choosing the donor, which leads to further problems. There should be more awareness about the disease and of the medical point of view,” Al-Sebayel said.
KSA comes a long way in liver transplants
