Tech & Sci
16:40, 19-Jul-2017
World's first successful double hand transplant on a child
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The first child in the world to undergo a double hand transplant is now able to write and feed and dress himself, doctors said Tuesday, declaring the ground-breaking operation a success after 18 months.
The report in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health provides the first official medical update on 10-year-old Zion Harvey, who had surgery to replace both hands in July 2015.
"Eighteen months after the surgery, the child is more independent and able to complete day-to-day activities," said Sandra Amaral, a doctor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where the operation took place.
"He continues to improve as he undergoes daily therapy to increase his hand function, and psycho-social support to help deal with the ongoing demands of his surgery."
Harvey had his hands and feet amputated at the age of two, following a sepsis infection. He also had a kidney transplant.
A nurse checks eight-year-old Zion Harvey's new hands. /VCG Photo
A nurse checks eight-year-old Zion Harvey's new hands. /VCG Photo
The donor hands became available in July 2015 from a deceased child.
Within days of the surgery, Harvey discovered he could move his fingers, using the ligaments from his residual limbs.
"Regrowth of the nerves meant that he could move the transplanted hand muscles and feel touch within around six months, when he also became able to feed himself and grasp a pen to write," said the report.
Eight months after the operation, Harvey was using scissors and drawing with crayons. Within a year, he could swing a baseball bat using both hands. He also threw out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game last August.
Scans have shown his brain is adapting to the new hands, developing new pathways to control movements and feel sensations.
Researchers cautioned that more study is needed before hand transplants in children become widespread.
"The world's first double hand transplant in a child has been successful under carefully considered circumstances," said the report.
The first successful hand transplant in an adult was completed in 1998.
(Source: AFP)