Robotic-assisted implantation is world's first
The groundbreaking procedure opens new horizons in circulatory support techniques for patients with complex cardiac conditions and marks a medical achievement that culminated in the patient's recovery within a short period following the surgery.
The procedure represents a major advance in the treatment of bilateral heart failure, which was traditionally performed through full sternotomy, an approach associated with higher surgical risks and prolonged recovery.
However, the cardiac surgery team, led by Prof. Feras Khaliel, performed the operation through small incisions using remotely controlled high-precision robotic arms, resulting in reduced blood loss, lower risk of infection, and faster patient recovery.
The milestone reflects the integration of expertise across multiple departments at the hospital, including cardiac surgery, cardiology, anesthesia, critical care, biomedical engineering, and advanced life support.
The procedure was meticulously planned and benefited from 3D imaging technologies, real-time surgical navigation, and innovative solutions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
31 minutes ago
- Arab News
‘Worst-case scenario of famine' is happening in Gaza, food crisis experts say
TEL AVIV: The 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting 'widespread death' without immediate alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. The international pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The United Nations and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and unload delivery trucks before they can reach their Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have 'dramatically worsened' the situation, including 'increasingly stringent blockades' by Israel.A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza and mobility within has largely denied. The IPC has only declared famine a few times — in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan's western Darfur region last independent experts say they don't need a formal declaration to know what they're seeing in Gaza.'Just as a family physician can often diagnose a patient she's familiar with based on visible symptoms without having to send samples to the lab and wait for results, so too we can interpret Gaza's symptoms. This is famine,' Alex de Waal, author of 'Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine' and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, told The Associated it takes to declare famineAn area is classified as in famine when all three of the following conditions are confirmed:At least 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving. At least 30 percent of children six months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height. And at least two people or four children under 5 per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and report is based on available information through July 25 and says the crisis has reached 'an alarming and deadly turning point.' It says data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza — at its lowest level since the war began — and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. The report says nearly 17 out of every 100 children under the age of 5 in Gaza City are acutely evidence shows 'widespread starvation.' Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Program. Hospitals report a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths in children under 5. Gaza's population of over 2 million has been squeezed into increasingly tiny areas of the devastated IPC's latest analysis in May warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn't lift its blockade and stop its military campaign. Its new alert calls for immediate and large-scale action and warns: 'Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the strip.'What aid restrictions look likeIsrael has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free eased those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead with a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. The traditional, UN-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds swarm entering Israel says there's no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza, UN agencies and aid groups say even the latest humanitarian measures are not enough to counter the worsening starvation. In a statement Monday, Doctors Without Borders called the new airdrops ineffective and dangerous, saying they deliver less aid than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said no one is starving in Gaza and that Israel has supplied enough aid throughout the war, 'otherwise, there would be no Gazans.' Israel's military on Monday criticized what it calls 'false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza.'Israel's closest ally now appears to disagree. 'Those children look very hungry,' President Donald Trump said Monday of the images from Gaza in recent days.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Gangs and merchants sell food aid in Gaza, where Israel's offensive has shattered security
DEIR AL BALAH: Since Israel's offensive led to a security breakdown in Gaza that has made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to starving Palestinians, much of the limited aid entering is being hoarded by gangs and merchants and sold at exorbitant prices. A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of flour has run as high as $60 in recent days, a kilogram of lentils up to $35. That is beyond the means of most residents in the territory, which experts say is at risk of famine and where people are largely reliant on savings 21 months into the Israel-Hamas war. Israel's decision this weekend to facilitate more aid deliveries — under international pressure — has lowered prices somewhat but has yet to be fully felt on the ground. Bags of flour in markets often bear UN logos, while other packaging has markings indicating it came from the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — all originally handed out for free. It's impossible to know how much is being diverted, but neither group is able to track who receives its aid. In the melees surrounding aid distributions in recent weeks, residents say the strong were best positioned to come away with food. Mohammed Abu Taha, who lives in a tent with his wife and child near the city of Rafah, said organized gangs of young men are always at the front of crowds when he visits GHF sites. 'It's a huge business,' he said. Every avenue for aid is beset by chaos The UN says up to 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, aid groups and media outlets say their own staffers are going hungry, and Gaza's Health Ministry says dozens of Palestinians have died from hunger-related causes in the last three weeks. When the UN gets Israeli permission to distribute aid, its convoys are nearly always attacked by armed gangs or overwhelmed by hungry crowds in the buffer zone controlled by the military. The UN's World Food Program said last week it will only be able to safely deliver aid to the most vulnerable once internal security is restored — likely only under a ceasefire. 'In the meantime, given the urgent need for families to access food, WFP will accept hungry populations taking food from its trucks, as long as there is no violence,' spokesperson Abeer Etifa said. In the alternative delivery system operated by GHF, an American contractor, Palestinians often run a deadly gantlet. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while seeking food since May, mainly near the GHF sites, according to the UN human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The military says it has only fired warning shots when people approach its forces, while GHF says its security contractors have only used pepper spray or fired in the air on some occasions to prevent stampedes. 'You have to be strong and fast' A man in his 30s, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal, said he had visited GHF sites about 40 times since they opened and nearly always came back with food. He sold most of it to merchants or other people in order to buy other necessities for his family. Heba Jouda, who has visited the sites many times, said armed men steal aid as people return with it and merchants also offer to buy it. 'To get food from the American organization, you have to be strong and fast,' she said. Footage shot by Palestinians at GHF sites and shared broadly shows chaotic scenes, with crowds of men racing down fenced-in corridors and scrambling to grab boxes off the ground. GHF says it has installed separate lanes for women and children and is ramping up programs to deliver aid directly to communities. The UN's deliveries also often devolve into deadly violence and chaos, with crowds of thousands rapidly overwhelming trucks in close proximity to Israeli troops. The UN does not accept protection from Israel, saying it prefers to rely on community support. The Israeli military did not respond to emails seeking comment about the reselling of aid. Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls and accuses Hamas of prolonging the war by not surrendering. 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The situation changed dramatically in March For much of the war, UN agencies were able to safely deliver aid, despite Israeli restrictions and occasional attacks and theft. Hamas-led police guarded convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid. During a ceasefire earlier this year, Israel allowed up to 600 aid trucks to enter daily. There were no major disruptions in deliveries, and food prices were far lower. The UN said it had mechanisms in place to prevent any organized diversion of aid. But Israel says Hamas was siphoning it off, though it has provided no evidence of widespread theft. That all changed in March, when Israel ended the ceasefire and halted all imports, including food. Israel seized large parts of Gaza in what it said was a tactic to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. As the Hamas-run police vanished from areas under Israeli control, local tribes and gangs — some of which Israel says it supports — took over, residents say. Israel began allowing a trickle of aid to enter in May. GHF was set up that month with the stated goal of preventing Hamas from diverting aid. Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the UN says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective. Meanwhile, food distribution continues to be plagued by chaos and violence, as seen near GHF sites or around UN trucks. Even if Israel pauses its military operations during the day, it's unclear how much the security situation will improve. With both the UN and GHF, it's possible Hamas members are among the crowds. In response to questions from The Associated Press, GHF acknowledged that but said its system prevents the organized diversion of aid. 'The real concern we are addressing is not whether individual actors manage to receive food, but whether Hamas is able to systematically control aid flows. At GHF sites, they cannot,' it said. Hamas has denied stealing aid. It's unclear if it's involved in the trade in aid, but its fighters would be taking a major risk by operating in a coordinated way in Israeli military zones that UN trucks pass through and where GHF sites are located. The UN says the only solution is a ceasefire UN officials have called on Israel to fully lift the blockade and flood Gaza with food. That would reduce the incentive for looting by ensuring enough for everyone and driving down prices. Another ceasefire would include a major increase in aid and the release of Israeli hostages, but talks have stalled. Hamas started the war when its fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. Fifty captives are still being held in Gaza. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is run by medical professionals. Israel has disputed its figures without providing its own.
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Healthy snacking habits on the rise in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: Health-conscious consumers are turning to new versions of traditional snacks in order to tackle obesity in the Kingdom. Freeze-drying has emerged as a popular way to process fruits in a move away from traditional drying with heat, which can cause nutrients such as vitamins, antioxidants and fiber to be depleted. Freeze-drying causes less degradation and ensures more goodness is retained. 'When I first tried freeze-dried strawberries, I loved them,' Riyadh resident Abdullah Saud told Arab News. 'Because I have diabetes I am not allowed to consume a lot of sugar or fruits, but the strawberries are great. They are not sugary, for my taste.' • Public health physician Dr. Zahra'a Al-Ahmed, who specializes in nutrition, warned that while freeze-dried fruit retained structure and flavor, it could still be high in calories. • The Saudi Food and Drug Authority's Healthy Food Promotion Initiative is reducing unhealthy additives in food products to improve nutritional labeling. • Dates are an option for a classic Saudi snack, widely popular due to their cultural and religious significance. However, public health physician Dr Zahra'a Al-Ahmed, who specializes in nutrition, warned that while freeze-dried fruit retained structure and flavor, it could still be high in calories. Speaking to Arab News about snacking habits and the shift to healthier options, she said: 'Similar to many other nations, Saudi Arabia has major issues with diabetes, obesity and heart disease. These non-communicable diseases are frequently associated with poor eating habits, such as consuming too many processed snacks that are heavy in sodium, sugar and bad fats.' The trend towards healthier choices indicated the community was increasingly aware of these risks and was making the effort to reduce such problems, she said: 'Low-calorie, sugar-free, gluten-free, high-fiber and protein-rich products are among the clean label options that consumers are actively looking for.' Al-Ahmed said consumers' snacking habits in the Kingdom were changing thanks to various programs that 'encourage improved eating habits towards mindful eating.' One such scheme is the Saudi Food and Drug Authority's Healthy Food Promotion Initiative, which aims to reduce unhealthy additives in food products and improve nutritional labeling, encouraging consumers to make informed decisions. Al-Ahmed explained that people's consumption habits were influenced by multiple factors, including socioeconomic status, education level and social as well as emotional triggers. Despite improving attitudes towards diets in the Kingdom, unhealthy snacks are still popular, especially among college students and young adults. More programs targeting these groups were needed, she added. Dates are another option for a classic Saudi snack, widely popular due to their cultural and religious significance. They have always been valued for their natural sweetness and nutritional benefits, and new, healthier versions are being found in cafes and on supermarket shelves. From chocolate-covered Ajwa dates to those stuffed with almonds, pistachios or peanut butter, the much-loved fruit is finding favor in new forms. 'I love date bars — healthy and tasty — and I make a lot for myself and for my family instead of buying regular chocolate at the supermarket,' said Munirah Al-Fahad, from Riyadh. 'It gives me the same taste but with less sugar and (fewer) fats.' She revealed: 'The base for this snack is dates, followed by a layer of peanut butter, then topped by chocolate mixed with nuts. I leave it after that in the refrigerator to cool for two hours, sometimes less.'
