14-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Patient to Receive Living Donor Liver Transplant

A young Sudanese boy has become Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s youngest ever recipient of a living donor liver transplant – a life-saving gift from his older brother.

Montasir Elfatih Mohyeldin Taha, a 14-year-old boy from Sudan, was diagnosed with a chronic liver condition when he was a baby. From a very young age, the family knew that he would eventually need a liver transplant.

Montasir was unwell for most of his childhood, but in early 2021, tests revealed he was starting to show signs of liver failure. Seeing how sick he was, and aware of the risk of potential complications from his condition, his doctors recommended that he undergo a liver transplant at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Both Montasir’s mother and brother were identified as potential donor matches. Working closely with the transplant team at Cleveland Clinic in the US, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s multidisciplinary transplant team decided that his older brother was the most suitable match.

The surgery was one of the most complex living donor transplant procedures that has been performed at the hospital. In total, the surgery took 10 hours to complete, and involved Montasir receiving a left lobe graft from his brother.

Dr. Luis Campos, the Director of Liver Transplant and Hepatobiliary at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi says, “Due to his young age, there were many challenges that impacted the surgery, after-care, and the dose of immunosuppressive medication. There is also a risk of other infectious complications in pediatric liver transplants that do not apply to adult surgeries.”

The surgeries on both brothers were a complete success, and without complication. They are both now on their way to making full recoveries.

Khalifa, Montasir’s older brother, says of the donation, “My brother needed me – it was one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Seeing that his body has accepted the donor is such a joy, and I want to thank the team at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi for saving my brother’s life. I hope more people consider donating organs as the feeling you get, knowing that you can help someone live a normal life, is incomparable.”