The Health Minister of Spain Leire Pajin revealed that doctors there are looking for a suitable match from a dead donor to carry out the world’s first leg transplant. The announcement was made at an international conference on organ transplants in Madrid.
The Ministry’s transplant commission last May authorized Valencia’s Hospital de la Fe to carry out the procedure, which will involve both legs. A spokeswoman revealed that if successful this will be the first operation of its kind in the world and could offer hope to many. She said, “They are looking for a suitable donor. We still don’t know the date, it could be in two months or six months, it all depends on when an adequate donor is found.”
The recipient is an unidentified man who had both legs amputated above the knee after an accident. Since prosthetic limbs are unsuitable for him, this may be his only alternative apart from a wheelchair.
Director of Spain's National Organization of Transplants, Rafael Matesanz, said at the conference, “Transplants of hands, arms or faces from dead people were science fiction just a decade ago and today they are a splendid reality at our hospitals.” According to the Ministry of the 13 face transplants carried out so far around the world, seven were carried out in France, three in Spain, two in the United States and one in China. Dr. Pedro Cavadas who has pioneered several transplant surgeries would be carrying out the double leg transplant and the fourth face transplant.
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