Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

World's first transplant of two full arms - German team

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-01 23:38

BERLIN - A German medical team said Friday it had performed what it called the world's first transplant of two full arms, on a farmer who had lost both his limbs in an accident.

The male patient, 54, was "doing well under the circumstances" after the 15-hour operation on July 25-26, the clinic at the Technical University in the southern city of Munich said.

Related readings:  Liver transplant recipients to be registered  Australian transplant girl a 'one-in-six billion miracle'  Face transplant woman hopes to kiss again  Clone pigs used for organ transplant experiments

The amputee, who had lived without arms for six years since the accident, consulted the 40-member team at the university's Rechts der Isar Clinic after two failed attempts to use various artificial prostheses.

"The man required round-the-clock assistance -- a condition he wanted to change as quickly as possible," the clinic said in a statement.

The facility had a decades-old unit for microsurgery and replantation surgery with a speciality in interdisciplinary operations it said was essential for a procedure of this complexity.

Professor Hans-Guenther Machens had prepared the transplant since he became the clinic's director in December.

It said suppressing the man's immune system so it would not reject the new limbs was a key concern.

Another key challenge was finding a donor who matched the patient's sex, age, skin colour, size and blood type.