Young woman gets double hand transplant

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDNov 3 2011

In a surgical feat a 28 year old woman who lost her hands and feet to an infection about four years ago is recuperating after undergoing a double hand transplant.

“The patient is doing extremely well,” said Dr. L. Scott Levin who led the team of doctors. “She’s progressing very well through rehab and she has gained significant independence with her gestures. She’s able to wipe a tear and scratch her nose. These are huge milestones.”  The woman, has asked to remain anonymous while she recovers.

University of Pennsylvania doctors performed the double hand transplant in September, making her one of only 60 people in the world who has received such state-of-the-art transplantation. It required a team of 30, including 12 surgeons, three anesthesiologists and 15 nurses. During the nearly 12 hour surgery, doctors connected the forearm bones with steel plates. Veins and arteries were connected, and muscles and tendons were then stitched together before skin was then closed.

“Our main hope with transplants like this one is that the hands will, over time, function better than prostheses,” said Levin, director of the Penn Hand Transplant Program who was aided in the operation by 12 surgeons. 

It was not immediately known whether the patient could also be a candidate for a double foot transplant.

“The first kidney transplant was performed in 1954 and here we are, 57 years later, transplanting hands and arms and faces and legs,” said Levin. “I think we’re on the verge of an entirely new dimension of transplantation. It’s really the frontier of surgical technology.”