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8-Year-Old Makes History As First Pediatric Dual Hand Transplant Recipient
ErnieKey writes: While there have been several hand transplants that have successfully taken place over the past decade or so, a little boy in Maryland, named Zion Harvey has become the first successful pediatric dual hand transplant recipient. After losing both hands and feet due to infection when he was 2 years old, doctors were able to successfully transplant new hands onto the little boy, thanks in part to modern-day 3d printing technology. "The success of Penn's first bilateral hand transplant on an adult, performed in 2011, gave us a foundation to adapt the intricate techniques and coordinated plans required to perform this type of complex procedure on a child," Dr. L. Scott Levin, chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at Penn Medicine and director of the hand transplantation program at Children's Hospital, said in a statement.
So he didn't get real, functional hands? He got plastic that looks like hands?
8 year old gets plastic hands, wonders why he didn't get a Luke Skywalker robot hand.
Can we get a round of applause?
High five! ... whoops...
Currently having a two year old as well, the thought of him losing both hands and feet right now is making me feel sick in my stomach. What a horrible thing to have happen to you. Huge props for what that kid and his parents must've gone through.
Bitten Apples are still better than dirty Windows...
This stuff is highly experimental, and success is not ensured at all. Still, with no hands, this is decidedly worth the try. Will also be very interesting to see how much sensation and dexterity he will develop.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Germans transplanted two arms at once in 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GATCiaeuK0E
Last update from 2013 shows the guy is doing well and can open doors and take a shit himself again.
That the family has good insurance, (I assume USA from the article) otherwise the family will be paying off those hands for LIFE!
Isn't it terrible that this is the first thing I think of when someone has major surgery - i.e. how are they going to pay for it?
Heh. Captcha: rewarded
He should give himself a round of applause.
No hands! *puff of smoke* two hands!
I think the surgeons made history, the kid did nothing except get transplants. So the kid might "enter history" but certainly not "make history"
I would honestly prefer bionics, even if he doesn't reject the foreign tissue, he will have to be on medication all his life.
I have to admit that I was drawn in by the (misread) headline " First Pedantic Dual Hand Transplant Recipient"
It's early here, I need my coffee.
director of the hand transplantation program at Children's Hospital
Have a lot of kids received single hand transplants there previously?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I watched an interview, this kid is AMAZINGLY mature.
Seriously, he gave better, more cogent and thoughtful interviews than most NFL or NBA players.
-Styopa
Jazz hands!
Now if we could find a way to make all kids that smart without chopping off their hands...
But the kid is black, did he wait until a pair of black hands came up on the market so he (or someone making a decision for him) wouldn't have honkey hands ?
-1 for the use of honkey. Before your comment, I never knew the child's race. A child who lost his hands and feet to a terrible infection received new hands (and forearms). Do you honestly think that he or his parents made a big deal about the race of the donor? Would it be easier for him to explain how he lost both hands, or explain why his hands have a different pigmentation than the rest of his body? And if it really mattered, they could do skin drafts at a future date so his new arms and hands would be covered with his own skin. As it is, the donor was from the same race, so the previous questions are moot.
Let this article be about an advancement in pediatric surgery instead of playing the race card.
Sorry, but I saw it on TV. first looked like a kid with bandages on his wrist and made me think a little bit about what may have been available first, I couldn't help but think that someone along that chain of decision making passed on the white hands...
I give you a -1 for being a terminal wussy.
" Let this article be about an advancement in pediatric surgery instead of playing the race card. "
Obviously you don't live anywhere near Baltimore.
Hands are just incredibly complicated. There are a lot of tendons and ligaments in there, and I imagine that fine motor control comes from a lot of different nerves. How much dexterity can he be expected to get out of this?
I imagine that getting it done young means that he's got years to re-establish connections and train pathways for it. Still... anybody know how good it might get? Will he be able to play the violin?
Wow, there's really a very low level of basic human decency on slashdot these days.
Last time I visit.
All the love in the world for the boy who has hands due to medical science, that's wonderful for him - and his entire life, there are few things greater than providing a child with opportunities that they had lost before even coming to the age of reason or self-identification.
That being said, I don't get the title - why is it the boy who 'makes history', and not the wonderful doctors? It seems to me that it is the doctors responsible for this amazing transplant rather than the boy who received it.
Do you honestly think that he or his parents made a big deal about the race of the donor?
From the second link:
And, of course, the hands had to fit. Based on Zion’s needs, doctors estimated that only about 15 donors per year might meet his age, gender, skin color, and size needs.
While I don't like the tone of "honkey hands" or much of anything about that poster, apparently they did take that into account when waiting for an appropriate donor. They also evaluated him for 18 months before concluding they would go forward with this, so they apparently took whatever time was needed. I suspect (but have no idea) that there are fewer risks if the gender and race match, much as I would imagine that a matching blood type would be beneficial. On size, they allowed for +/- 20% of what they considered to be ideal.