Surgeons at a hospital in Saudi Arabia successfully achieved a world first: a heart transplant performed entirely by robots.
The patient was a 16-year-old boy with severe heart failure. When doctors decided he needed a heart transplant, the boy asked them to perform it without opening up his chest. And so they turned to a groundbreaking procedure guided by precision robotics, allowing them to give him a new heart with less pain and less recovery time.
Since that operation, Riyadh’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre has achieved a number of firsts in robotic surgery, including the first fully robotic liver #transplant and the first robot-assisted heart pump implantation. The hospital continues to pioneer new ways to improve surgery through robotics - all with the goal of shortening operations and minimizing complications for patients.
From robot-assisted surgeries to telemedicine and smart health apps, digital healthcare can break down barriers, make care more accessible and bring the world closer to Sustainable Development Goal 3: good health and well-being for all. The World Economic Forum’s Digital Healthcare Transformation Initiative is helping to speed up the responsible use of digital tools in healthcare worldwide.
