Multi-organ transplant recipient from Qatar gives birth to healthy baby girl
In the first known case of a five-organ transplant patient giving birth, a 26-year-old Qatari woman delivered a healthy baby girl on Wednesday in a Florida hospital, AP reports.
Fatema Al Ansari was given a new liver, pancreas, stomach and small and large intestine six years ago after being diagnosed with a condition that caused her abdominal organs to fail.
She is one of 600 known five-organ transplant recipients, according to the Intestinal Transplant Association, and appears to be the first in the world to give birth.
AP reports:
Dr. Shalih Y. Yasin, the woman’s obstetrician, said there have been some cases in Europe of births by transplant patients who had two organs “but not five.”
…”It’s not an easy pregnancy to go through,” Yasin said. “One has to make sure the transplant organ is not rejected, that the medications are safe to the baby.”
Al Ansari will return to Qatar in the coming weeks with her daughter Alkadi Alhayal and husband Khalifa Alhayal, who thanked the Emir and Heir Apparent in a press conference following the baby’s birth.
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