A United State hospital announced
that an 8-year-old American boy has become the world's youngest patient to
receive a double hand transplant.
Surgeons operated for 10 hours at Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia to carry out an incredibly complicated operation on Zion Harvey
this month, although the procedure was not announced until this week.
A 40-person medical team used steel plates and screws to
methodically attach the old and new bones, as well as veins. Once the
blood was circulating, surgeons connected tendons, muscles and nerves.
The donor's family chose to remain anonymous.
Harvey previously had both of his hands and feet amputated, plus a
kidney transplant, because of a major infection. He had learned to eat,
write and even play video games without his hands. He uses prosthetic
legs that allow him to walk, run and jump.
Doctors say Harvey will spend several weeks in physical
rehabilitation at the hospital before returning to his home near
Baltimore. The surgery that he received will require a lifetime of
immune-suppressing drugs to ensure that his body does not reject his new hands.
Several adults in the United States have received double hand or
double arm transplants in recent years.
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