Tim
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 Posted: 12/28/06 - 17:20 Post subject: Double hand transplant success |
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Alba Lucia, now 47, originally from Colombia, lost both of her hands in an explosion in her student chemistry lab about 30 years ago.
A team of surgeons carried out a very complex operation on this woman, a double hand transplant. Alba is the first woman to have undergone such procedure.
Six double-handed transplants have been previously carried out on men. The first one was performed on a 33-year-old man in France in 2000.
Alba Lucia received her new limbs from a woman who was declared brain dead following an accident. She received her new limbs in a 10-hour operation that were removed from above the donor’s elbow that had been previously cooled down and transported to Hospital La Fe, Valencia, Spain in less than five hours.
Both of Alba’s transplants were carried out simultaneously by a team of 10 professionals, surgeons and anaesthetists.
Her forearms needed to be adjusted to match the size of the donor limbs, her bones were fixed with metal plates and screws and arteries, veins and nerves attached by microscopic surgery.
Everyone, surgeons and the patient, are more than pleased with the outcome of the surgery although Alba won’t be able to feel any sensations in another six months.
Most importantly, Alba was delighted because she will soon be able to use hands and start an independent life. |
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