Doctors at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh have washed out both lungs of a 10-year-old girl in one session of about 9 hours to treat a rare disease that had lowered her blood oxygen level to 79%, against a normal range of 95% to 100%. She went home five days later, stable and without complications.

The girl suffered from constant breathlessness, severe tiredness, trouble walking and weight loss caused by pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, a rare condition in which proteins and fats build up in the lungs' air sacs and block oxygen from reaching the blood. Her illness was advanced and she needed extra oxygen at all times.

Using a special tube that controls each lung separately, the team kept her breathing through one lung while flushing the other in stages with warm saline, draining and repeating until the fluid ran almost clear, then did the same on the second lung.

She was then monitored in the paediatric intensive care unit, where her breathing improved steadily and her need for extra oxygen fell from 4.5 litres to one litre per minute.

The hospital is ranked first in the Middle East and Africa and 12th worldwide among the top 250 academic medical centres for 2026. Brand Finance named it the most valuable healthcare brand in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, and Newsweek listed it among the world's best hospitals, best smart hospitals and best specialised hospitals for 2026.