Youth loses both hands to an accident, AIMS gives him new pair of hands

Transplant of internal organs like liver, kidney and heart from a brain-dead donor is accepted across the country now. But transplant of other structures like hands and face is still in its infancy all over the world and till now not carried out in India.

 

 For a bilateral hand amputee the best option of rehabilitation and coming back into a productive life is to have a hand transplant. The transplant of hands is technically demanding and is difficult to be carried out due to the paucity of hand donation from a deceased donor. Considering the importance of hand transplant the department of Plastic Hand and micro vascular surgery at Amrita Institute launched a Composite tissue allotransplant programme in 2013 after getting the necessary government clearance. The first double hand transplant was carried out on 12th and 13th of January 2015.

 

The recipient was a 30 year male. The recipient was a 24 year old male who became brain dead after a motorbike accident. The surgery took 16 hours to complete and involved 20 surgeons and 10 anesthetists. The recipient hands started regaining movements on the first week itself. The patient after 70 days has made great progress in the movements of the hand and sensory recovery. The complete return of functions may take up to 1year more. The procedure carried out has been hailed as a trendsetter and historical achievement for transplant surgery in India. This is the first hand transplant and first composite tissue allotransplant done in the country,

 

This is the first hand transplant in a colored population in the world and first among the developing nations from Asia. The hand transplant has drawn the attention of the

 

 

International scientific community and the recent visit by an eminent US team expressed their happiness by the way the preparations and execution of the procedure equalling the US standards. Following this numerous enquiries have been pouring from all over India and neighboring countries with requests for hand transplants and other complex hand surgical procedures. The department headed by Dr Subramania Iyer and comprising of senior plastic surgeons Dr Mohit sharma, Dr S.Vijayaraghavan, Dr Jimmy Mathew and Dr Kishore is fully equipped and assisted by ancillary services to undertake all complex plastic surgery procedures

 

The department prides itself in its academic and research activities. The department conducts periodically micro vascular surgical training programme. A soft embalmed cadaver training facility has been added. The partnership with Anglia Ruskin University is in the offing to start an aesthetic surgery and burns training programme.