King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre achieved an unprecedented global medical milestone by performing the world's first single-port robotic liver transplant on a six-year-old child suffering from Wolcott-Rallison syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that leads to early-onset diabetes and recurrent episodes of acute liver failure.

The child's father donated the left lobe of his liver in a pivotal moment that restored hope to the family after a long journey of anxiety. The operation was a complete success, with the child showing good early recovery, and the transplanted portion functioning efficiently without any complications.

The single-port robotic technique involves inserting precise surgical instruments and a high-definition 3D camera through a single small incision, unlike traditional robotic surgery that requires multiple incisions. Through this single port, the surgical team was able to perform the most delicate stages of liver transplantation inside a small child's body, carefully handling blood vessels and bile ducts, which helped reduce surgical impact, alleviate pain, accelerate recovery, and shorten hospital stay.

The leader of the medical team that performed the operation and Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Organ Transplantation, Professor Dieter Broering, explained that the success of this type of surgery depends not only on the availability of the technology, but also on precise patient selection, surgical planning, and the team's expertise in handling all stages of transplantation. He noted that the true value of surgical innovation becomes evident when technology helps reduce the burden on the patient and their family while maintaining the highest safety standards.

This achievement extends a pioneering journey that began in 2023 when the Specialist Hospital performed the world's first fully robotic liver transplant, evolving into a comprehensive program that has so far carried out 165 robotic liver transplants, supported by experience with over 1,700 robotic procedures to resect parts of the liver from living donors.

It is worth noting that King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre was ranked first in the Middle East and Africa and twelfth globally among the top 250 academic healthcare institutions for 2026. It was also named the highest-value healthcare brand in the Kingdom and the Middle East for 2026 by Brand Finance, in addition to being listed in Newsweek's rankings of the world's best hospitals and best smart and specialized hospitals for 2026.