Man without limbs undergoes rare bilateral hand transplant surgery in Mumbai hospital

PTI, Oct 19, 2021, 4:40 PM IST

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Mumbai: A rare bilateral hand transplant surgery was conducted successfully at a hospital here on a 22-year-old man who had lost both his hands and feet in a tragic accident.

According to a statement issued by the hospital, the man from Rajasthan recently underwent a complex bilateral hand transplant surgery that lasted for nearly 13 hours.

“It is a very rare case in which a quadruple amputee (a person without hands and feet) had been reabulated with the bilateral hand transplant procedure. Another case complication was the disfunction of both the arms; one hand cut was in below elbow and another one was above elbow which made it much more challenging,” said Dr Nilesh Satbhai, senior consultant, Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive surgery.

The patient had suffered electrical burns (after coming in contact with a high-tension wire) a year and a half ago.

“The case was very challenging and complicated. A bilateral transplant surgery was conducted wherein we had to work on two hands of the recipient and the two hands of the donor to prepare the parts and join them successfully. Hence the surgery took 13 hours to complete,” Dr Satbhai said.

He said it was the first-of-its-kind surgery performed in Mumbai at Global Hospitals here.

The surgery was completed successfully and the patient is in a stable condition, he added.

Dr Satbhai said the recipient will have to take immuno-separation medication and maintain good hygiene to guard against any infection post-discharge.

“The recovery of hand will take a time of three to four months with constant physiotherapy sessions for at least a year,” said the doctor.

Dr Satbhai had performed the first such surgery on Monika More, a young girl from Mumbai who had lost both of her hands in a train accident in 2014.

She underwent the transplant in 2020.