World’s First Double Arm Transplant

Surgeons at the Munich University Clinic spent 15 hours grafting arms on a 54-year-old German farmer who lost both arms in a horrifying threshing accident six years ago.

Doctors said that the greatest challenge was establishing blood flow between the farmer’s body and the muscles in the new arms.

The muscle and the nerves to be connected were exposed first while the blood vessels were filled with chilled blood. The farmer’s and the donor’s arms were then removed exactly at the point matching the patient’s arm stumps. First the bones were joined, then arteries and veins to ensure a speedy blood circulation.

“The arms quickly resumed their rosy color,” a clinic spokeswoman said.

Doctors are optimistic that his nerves will expand at a pace of about 1mm per day, in which case he should be able to use his hands in about two years.

Medial specialists see psychological counselling as extremely crucial for the true success of the operation. In 1992, Australian Clint Hallam had lost a hand in an accident with a circular saw. He was successfully fitted with a new arm, he could never get rid of the nagging thought that his hand belonged to somebody else. It was removed at his request three years after the operation.

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