German got transplanted both forearms

Accident victim: German receives two transplanted forearms

03/29/2014

A 55-year-old German was transplanted at the University Hospital Innsbruck both forearms. The patient should be able to move his new hands soon. He had lost his forearms in an accident.

Both forearms lost in an accident
A 55-year-old German patient was transplanted two lower arms at the University Hospital Innsbruck just a few days ago. According to Austrian press reports he had lost both forearms in an accident. The 15-hour operation was conducted by a 30-member team. As the hospital announced on Friday, the complicated transplant had been successful. The Medical Director of the Innsbruck Regional Hospital, Alexandra Kofler, said: „The patient has survived the procedure well and will be able to move his new hands in the next few hours.“

At least six months rehabilitation
The clinic did not want to give any information on the exact origin of the German and the history of the transplant. It was planned that he himself would give a press conference in the foreseeable future. The 55-year-old now has at least six months of intensive and intensive rehabilitation. In addition, the patient will be mentally cared for. Because unlike other transplants, he has to deal with the fact that he can see the graft - the hands of a dead man.

All hands transplanted in Innsbruck so far work excellently
According to Kofler, it would not be easy to find a suitable donor. „Often it is simply not thought that even poor people could be needed.“ The German was the fifth patient at the Innsbruck clinic to undergo a hand or forearm transplantation. It was said that all patients were „in very good condition, and the transplanted hands work excellently.“ The clinic also said that Innsbruck was the only center in the world where all transplants had been successful. The first hand transplant worldwide took place in Ecuador in the 1960s. It was not successful. It was only in 1999 that doctors in Louisville, Kentucky (USA) managed to perform the first hand transplantation with continued success. (Ad)

Image: Michael Bührke