Watching a certain American Tv series, 10 mins ago, I stumbled on something that chilled my blood but also gave me hope [if proven to be true, of course!], and it's hand transplants!

According to the series, an ex-soldier with an amputated limb was finally given a matching arm from a body of an organ-donor cadaver. The arm was attached through a meticulous but successful surgery by a team of surgeons. But what shocked me, was when the patient told the chief surgeon that performed the operation that he could feel some pin-prick sensations in his brand new arms. The surgeon proceeded to tell him that with time and with the help of physical therapies, the arm will eventually become fully functional.

Do you imagine the implication if it were true? That means going limbless for the rest of ones life will become something of the past. You can be given another human hand, just like it's in the case of heart and kidney. But alas, I don't know if it's true or merely a fiction, which inspired me to create this thread and ask the public.

Please, any expert in the house, can someone's hand be given to another person successfully through surgery?

Please, my curiosity is in over-drive. An answer is needed urgently!

Thanks.

This topic is not getting any hits at all...

Mods, please push this to the front page so that it can get more attention. Thanks.

Very few people seems to patronize this Health section, judging by the number of views this thread had received so far, na wao.

chaircover: I heard of a hand transplant on the news I think last year

Really? Where did it took place?

And how successful was the surgery?

@Op, they say that it's possible, but I don't believe none of it. Why then do doctors give amputees Prothestic legs instead of live ones? You feel me?

Dan_de_Numeruno: @Op, they say that it's possible, but I don't believe none of it. Why then do doctors give amputees Prothestic legs instead of live ones? You feel me?

You misunderstood the question. the topic said hand transplant, not leg. But to answer your question, assuming it's possible, the most credible reason being that human legs are scarce and you have to be on a sort of short list to have a shot at getting one. Hence, the prevalence of prosthetics.

http://www.uoflphysicians.com/news-room/world%E2%80%99s-most-successful-hand-transplant-recipient-celebrates-14th-anniversary#.UfitAIoo5Ms


Matthew Scott, the world’s most successful hand transplant recipient and the first person in the United States to receive a hand transplant, celebrated his 14th anniversary Jan. 23.

Scott was part of medical history in 1999, when he received his new left hand, an event that has greatly impacted the future of both transplantation and reconstructive surgery around the world. The 14 ½ hour innovative procedure was performed at Jewish Hospital, part of KentuckyOne Health, by surgeons from Kleinert Kutz Hand Care Center and Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery. The transplant was part of the Louisville Vascularized Composite Allograft program. UofL Physicians’ Michael Marvin, M.D., is a co-investigator of the program.

The Louisville program was started to prove that transfer of a hand and/or arm could be a treatment alternative for patients who had lost a limb in the same way a kidney or heart can be replaced in patients who need a new organ.

“We have been able to show over nearly 14 years that, with utilization of the same drugs used for organ transplants, we can obtain longstanding salvation of working organs such as the hand for patients like Matt who is able to use his transplanted hand in activities of daily living,” said Joseph E. Kutz, M.D., co-investigator.

Initial controversy existed that hand transplantation placed a relatively healthy patient in a potential position to develop diabetes, cancer, and other diseases secondary to the use of immunosuppression drugs. Scott had diabetes at the time of his transplant, but he has been able to maintain his hand and maintain the level of his diabetes without any adverse problems secondary to immunosuppression drugs.

“In our transplant program, we continue to examine the patient’s laboratory studies and monitor the vascularity of the transplant and nerve regeneration on a monthly basis,” said Kutz. “Matt has proved to be an outstanding subject who has continued to improve the survivability of his transplanted hand and continue to function well with his hand. Therefore, the door has been opened to this procedure, which previously was considered unethical 14 years ago.”

“A New Jersey native, Scott is the director of the EMT and paramedic school operated by his employer, Virtua Health. He can use his transplanted hand for everyday living activities. Scott lost his dominant left hand on December 23, 1985, in a blast from an M80 firecracker accident.

“The success Matt has had with his transplant for such a prolonged period of time is a reflection of his compliance and dedication to keeping himself and his transplanted limb healthy,” said Dr. Marvin, chief of transplantation, Jewish Hospital, and associate professor, University of Louisville. “He is an outstanding example of the benefits that transplantation can bring to those with devastating injuries."

“Fourteen years ago, the hope was that my new hand would last a year, but the transplant team prepared me to accept that it might not last six months,” said Scott. “Then the one-year anniversary came and I was thrilled, along with the team. When the second anniversary arrived, another major milestone was passed and as the anniversaries of the third, fourth, fifth years and so on came and went, it became undeniably clear that hand transplant can be, and is, successful.”

The Louisville team has performed hand transplants on a total of eight patients.
•Matt Scott from New Jersey – January 24-25, 1999
•Gerald David Fisher from Michigan - February 17, 2001
•David Savage from Michigan - Nov. 29, 2006
•Dave Robert Armstrong from California - July 12, 2008.
•Jan "Erik" Hondusky from New York - November 24, 2008
•Richard Edwards from Oklahoma – August 24, 2010 (double hand transplant)
•Donnie Rickelman from Indiana – July 10, 2011
•Ronald Thurman from Indiana – February 15, 2012

The majority of the hand transplants performed by the Louisville team were sponsored by the Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research and Office of Army Research to further study the vascularized composite allograph program. The Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation recently pledged $1.5 million to continue the program.

Kentuckiana Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) coordinated the donation of the hands and worked very closely with the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization and LifeGift in Texas. Without the help of these organ procurement agencies and the donor families, these procedures could not have taken place.

Kentuckians can join the Kentucky Donor Registry online at www.donatelifeky.org People who live outside of the state of Kentucky can visit www.donatelife.net for state specific donor registry information.

Interesting. From your post, I garnered that it's possible but not yet common, and not always successful. Anyways, it's a good thing shaa, at least the world is moving forward.

But it seems like all the past surgeries occurred in the united states, do you have any answers?

FrostyZonn: Interesting. From your post, I garnered that it's possible but not yet common, and not always successful. Anyways, it's a good thing shaa, at least the world is moving forward.

But it seems like all the past surgeries occurred in the united states, do you have any answers?

I didn't search for operations that occurred elsewhere... I simply used what google gave me first.

Any sort of transplant has a risk of not taking so whether it be hand or kidney it could still fail. Im sure when it gets more common you will see the success rate increase.