India: Youth successfully undergoes hands transplant in Tamil Nadu hospital

The hands of a brain-dead woman have offered a new lease of life to a youngster who lost both his hands to electric burns. The life-changing bilateral hand transplant (below elbow) was performed at a private hospital in the Southern Indian city of Chennai, after the limbs of the brain-dead person were flown from Ahmedabad to Chennai, mapping a distance ofnearly 1800 kms.

The recipient had lost both his hands due to high-voltage electrical burns in 2018 and was completely dependent on his mother for daily activities. Confident of undergoing a hand transplant, the youngster had registered with the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) and had been waiting for three years.

It took a 14-hour-long procedure involving eight plastic surgeons, four orthopedician, a vascular surgeon, four anaesthetists, a nephrologist and 30 paramedical staff. The team was led byDr. S Selva Seetharaman, HOD & Senior Consultant - Plastic, Aesthetic & reconstructive Surgery, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai.

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"Handling a case of hand transplants requires the highest levels of precision and medical expertise. With this case, we are happy to have recorded this rare feat of bilateral below elbow hand transplant in the state of Tamil Nadu," Dr. Selva said.

Speaking at the felicitation, Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu said that this case is a great example to motivate people to step forward and donate organs, especially hands of brain-dead patients and provide a good quality of life to the differently abled.

The transplant procedure was successfully carried out on 28th May 2022 and the patient is on the road to recovery, with intensive physiotherapy.