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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.
Can we get a round of applause?
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.
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
Not sure I agree but it's a fair point. Surgery seems to be able to do a hell of a lot these days, but the breakthrough we really need is in better drugs to prevent rejection. As well as the minor inconvenience of having to take drugs every day, they also clobber the immune system.
If you think you need coffee, I misread the headline as "First Pediatric Dual Head Transplant Recipient".
And then I wondered if the kid's name was Zaphod...
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He'd already had a kidney transplant so he already has to be on anti-rejection medicine for the rest of his life. So the fact that he was already on the medication made him a better candidate for the new hands.