Man with artificial heart
CARDIOLOGIST PRAISES RESILIENCE OF EMIRATI WHO FOUGHT BACK AFTER BEING DECLARED CLINICALLY DEAD FOR 30 MINUTES
Al Junaibi wants to leave the hospital as early as possible and resume his normal life
An Emirati youth who fought back after being clinically dead for 30 minutes last week to become the country’s first recipient of an artificial heart is recovering well, Gulf News can exclusively reveal.
Salem Juma Mohammad Al Junaibi, 21, sat up and ate breakfast yesterday morning, said Dr Aref Al Nooriani, the 66-yearold cardiologist who led the 30-member team that operated on Al Junaibi on June 22.
“He has an infection but is recovering well. His heart, liver and kidneys had failed, but now all organs are functioning normally,” the Germany-educated Dr Al Nooriani, who is also the CEO of Al Qasimi Hospital, and head of its Cardiac Catheter Unit, said.
“His lung is also picking up, but it is taking longer than expected because of his condition before the surgery… his heart was damaged just after birth when he acquired a viral infection, damaging his heart muscles.”
Sequence of events
Dubbed a “fighter” by Dr Al Nooriani, Al Junaibi was in bad shape when he was referred to Al Qasimi Hospital on June 11.
“Two days later, he had a cardiac arrest and we thought we had lost him. He was clinically dead,” Dr Al Nooriani said. “He is muscular and tall, but we are amazed that he came out of this ordeal… we thought he had died and after 30 min- utes we decided to put him on an external pump to restore cardiac function. Someone said ‘why put him on the pump when he has been dead for half an hour?’, but we thought he must get another chance. We connected his femoral artery to the external pump that takes over the cardiac function,” Dr Al Nooriani said, recalling the events preceding the surgery.
A neurologist who examined Al Junaibi noticed some brain activity. At this point, the team decided to go for an artificial heart implant. “The challenge was that there are only three companies who provide the device and usually they don’t accept patients who are in such a bad condition,” Dr Al Nooriani said.
The hospital then contacted Heartware, a medical device company based in Germany. “It was a complex situation. We had to contact the company which had to arrange experts to be flown to Sharjah and the device itself had to be bought,” he said.
“Earlier, we had two such patients — 16 and 18 years old — who died while waiting for a transplant. But this time we thought we should not wait,” he said. Three years ago, there was no such device available and physicians were frustrated as they had no other avenues for treatment. “We had many cases of heart failure and were looking for other lines of treatments to save lives.”
On June 22, part of Al Junaibi’s heart was removed and replaced with a left ventricle assist device or LVAD. “We took out a piece of heart muscle — double the size of a dirham coin — and implanted the device, taking over the function of the left ventricle,” Dr Al Nooriani said, adding that it also aided the right ventricle and restored normal pumping.
The device lasts for up to eight years or even longer until the patient eventually goes for a heart transplant.
“I saw him eating his breakfast of milk, juice and fruits yesterday and today. He is a miracle. He is getting intense physiotherapy,” Dr Al Nooriani said.
His lung is also picking up but it is taking longer than expected… his heart was damaged just after birth when he acquired a viral infection, damaging his heart muscles.”
Dr Aref Al Nooriani
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Cardiologist
Recuperation
The hospital is not in a rush to discharge Al Junaibi, Al Nooriani said while showing a picture of a smiling Al Junaibi sitting on the hospital bed.
Al Junaibi’s family, meanwhile, said it is satisfied with his recovery. “My brother is very happy and he is feeling much better…he told us that he could now breathe easily and felt his heartbeat is regular,” his eldest brother, Omar Juma Mohammad Al Junaibi, told Gulf News.
“He wants to be discharged from the hospital as early as possible and resume his normal life. We thank Allah that my brother is recovering now,” he said, thanking the team of doctors.