The second successful twin-hand transplant in India was carried out in Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi on 10th April 2015.
The recipient is a 30-year-old ex-Army captain from Kandahar, Afghanistan. He lost both his hands during demining operations in Kandahar three years ago. This is perhaps the first case of twin-hand transplant on any citizen in Afghanistan.
He approached Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences four months ago, after scouting for hand transplant in several countries. The donor was a 54-year-old brain-dead accident victim from Kerala.
The transplant was carried out in a marathon surgical feat lasting for almost 15 hours with more than 20 surgeons and eight anaesthetics led by Dr Subramania Iyer, Professor and Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and other leading surgeons in the team including Dr. Mohit Sharma, Dr. Sundeep Vijayaraghavan, Dr. Kishore and Dr. Jimmy Mathew.
“Each hand required connecting two bones, two arteries, four veins and about 14 tendons. The immune suppressant drugs were started before the start of the surgery and continued after it,” said Dr. Subramania Iyer.“The recipient has regained considerable amount of function of both his hands using them for day-to-day activities. He will need intensive physiotherapy for another 9 to10 months,” he added.
The first hand transplant in the country was also done four months ago at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and the recipient is progressing extremely well, doing all routine activities.
