Burns victim receives new hands in rare transplant
August 27th, 2010 - 3:17 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Aug 27 (IANS) A burns victim in the US has received a new pair of hands in a rare double transplant operation that lasted 18 hours.
The surgery took place Thursday at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville in the US, where the world’s first successful single hand transplant was performed in 1999.
Doctors said the man will have more feeling in his fingers than previous hand transplant patients, reports the Daily Mail.
A team of six hand surgeons, one anaesthetist, one nurse and five extra medical staff worked on the unidentified patient on a rotating basis.
Lead surgeon Warren Breidenbach said doctors were able to put some of the patient’s existing nerves into hands from a donor.
The patient was unable to do simple tasks like taking keys out of his pocket because he hands had been damaged badly.
Surgeons removed dead hand tissue from the patient in preparation for the donor hands and five hours later attached the bones of the new hands to the patient with plates and screws.
Once the arteries and veins were attached, the team completed nerve repairs before sewing the new appendages shut and bandaging them up. They finished around 8.30 p.m.
The team expects the wounds to take about six weeks to heal but said it will be several months before any sensation returns to the hands.
As with any transplant, there is a risk of rejection and the patient will need to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of his life.
- US mom receives revolutionary hand transplant surgery - Apr 20, 2011
- Double hand transplant patient shows he can move fingers - Sep 03, 2010
- Full-face swap man can't wait to gorge on lamb dinner - Apr 25, 2010
- Britain to conduct first voicebox transplant - Jun 20, 2011
- Two Sri Lankan families swap livers for transplant - Jun 07, 2011
- Spanish surgeon performs first transplant of two legs - Jul 12, 2011
- Hyderabad hospital performs rare kidney transplant - Aug 19, 2011
- Indian doctors return from Pakistan with 'lots of love' - Feb 14, 2012
- First-ever total face transplant carried out in France - Jul 08, 2010
- Singapore doctors promote organ donation - Sep 03, 2011
- Liver transplant: Low cost gives Kerala an edge - Sep 07, 2010
- Richard Edwards who underwent double hand transplant shows off his 'fist' - Sep 04, 2010
- Two simultaneous heart transplants at Chennai hospital - Mar 23, 2010
- Delhi homemaker gets new heart - May 31, 2011
- First double-leg transplant carried out in Spain - Jul 12, 2011
Tags: appendages, arteries and veins, bones, burns victim, daily mail, double transplant, hand transplant, jewish hospital, medical staff, medications, nerves, pair of hands, rejection, screws, sensation, six weeks, transplant operation, transplant patients, warren breidenbach, wounds