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World's First Double Hand Transplant Involving a Child Declared a Success (ctvnews.ca)

Posted by BeauHD on from the history-making dept.

randomErr shares a report from CTV News: The first child in the world to undergo a double hand transplant is now able to write, feed and dress himself, doctors said Tuesday, declaring the ground-breaking operation a success after 18 months. The report in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health provides the first official medical update on 10-year old Zion Harvey, who underwent surgery to replace both hands in July 2015. Harvey had his hands and feet amputated at the age of two, following a sepsis infection. He also had a kidney transplant. Harvey was already receiving drugs to suppress any immune reaction to his kidney, which was a key factor in his selection for the 10-plus hour hand transplant surgery.

52 comments

  1. Fucking awesome by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    's all I can say.

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    1. Re:Fucking awesome by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      Part of me thinks this is incredible, but how useful is it when you must subject the patient to such high levels of immunosuppressants? For live saving/extending transplants there is little choice, but for something like hands I wonder if a prosthetic path isn't a better one. This is a special case since the kid needs the drugs already of course. That kid is a trooper.

    2. Re:Fucking awesome by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

      's all I can say.

      You have to hand it to the doctors. I can't place my finger on the right words to say but it sounds like they've got their thumb down on this procedure.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Fucking awesome by MBGMorden · · Score: 2

      They said right in the summary - he was ALREADY on the drugs due to the kidney transplant he received earlier. If he has to take them anyways he might as well have the hand transplant surgery as well.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    4. Re:Fucking awesome by skam240 · · Score: 1

      Maybe read the whole post before posting yourself :) (from the above post)

      "This is a special case since the kid needs the drugs already of course."

      The above poster ALREADY acknowledged that.

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    5. Re:Fucking awesome by gtall · · Score: 1

      The BBC did a story on this. Many in the field (and probably this little feller's doctors) think that with advances in technology and the immunosupporessants problem, in the future artificial limbs will be the way to go. I'm not sure how far into the future they were projecting.

    6. Re:Fucking awesome by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      If they could find a way to target an immunosuppressant to a narrow set of 'things' (could not find the right word), it would have huge benefits for lots of autoimmune disorders as well as transplants. But from what I can tell we are a long way off. I would thing that a hand, for example, probably has hundreds of things in it the host body might uniquely reject. A huge challenge.

    7. Re:Fucking awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe, in the future we will be able to grow replacement limbs from your own cells so we don't need immunosuppressants, or perhaps reprogram your immune system to recognise the transplant as native rather than foreign.

    8. Re: Fucking awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why didn't Luke Skywalker have this done? Because this technology is new and his story happened a long time ago? What a world to live in where we are more advanced than galaxies far far away.

    9. Re:Fucking awesome by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      or perhaps reprogram your immune system to recognise the transplant as native rather than foreign.

      I've heard about this happening; someone's immune system was destroyed for something unrelated. When it was restored, a transplant patients no longer needed immunosupressants. There is some research into doing this specifically to deal with transplants.

      A good thing. Great though these drugs are, they cause all sorts of problems, making people more susceptible to sickness (minor ailments can be fatal), and they increase the risk of cancer.

    10. Re:Fucking awesome by Maritz · · Score: 1

      It's class. Funny how even in this proudly ignorant, anti-intellectual time, science keeps on delivering the fucking goods.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  2. Glad he got them before puberty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would have been tough to jerk off with no hands

    1. Re:Glad he got them before puberty by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Would have been tough to jerk off with no hands

      They either had to give him two new hands, or remove two ribs from his rib cage. I think they made the right choice.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Glad he got them before puberty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He has a mother doesn't he? Yes, reddit is leaking...

  3. Unfortunately... by magusxxx · · Score: 2

    ...each hand was from a different political party. His parents noticed their son had a red crayon in one hand and a blue crayon in the other as he was gerrymandering Sesame Street.

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
    1. Re:Unfortunately... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Then we might have a chance to finally see the two parties cooperate when they notice that they'll starve if they don't.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, an optimist!

    3. Re:Unfortunately... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Nah, realist. As soon as it touches their own well being, you'll immediately see some bi-partisan ideas get pushed forwards quickly.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      don't quit your day job... that was fucking weak.

    5. Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, it's not like he had no eye lids so they gave him new ones made from foreskin and now he's cockeyed.

    6. Re:Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes, it is common practice to give one left and one right hand.

  4. Beats his meat like there's no tomorrow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kid just can't get enough. That monkey be hurtin' !

  5. Bad Joke by danbert8 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope this kid recovers and gives the operation two thumbs up!

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    1. Re:Bad Joke by avandesande · · Score: 1

      slow clap.....

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Bad Joke by Kjella · · Score: 1

      I hope this kid recovers and gives the operation two thumbs up!

      Well looking at the video... I doubt he can despite it being a "success". He seems to have a slight squeeze/release control which is of course infinitely more useful to grab things than a stub, but he doesn't seem to have any motor control over individual fingers and certainly couldn't do a shirt button or tie a shoe lace. I've seen people with a simple claw prosthetic do more, of course the upside is that these hands look human but as long as he can't hold them naturally it's only half way there in that department too. Of course don't let perfect be the enemy of good but it's very far from true replacement hands.

      --
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    3. Re:Bad Joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...unfortunately the operation cost the kid two (old) arms and a leg...and a kidney, apparently.

  6. I think Dr. Klahn... by magusxxx · · Score: 1

    ...deserves two really big hands.

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
    1. Re:I think Dr. Klahn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Great job!

    2. Re:I think Dr. Klahn... by RoverDaddy · · Score: 1

      I understood that reference! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

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    3. Re:I think Dr. Klahn... by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Yours is a post of extraordinary magnitude. You have our gratitude!

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  7. Keep growing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um.. I hope those hands keep growing with him...

    1. Re:Keep Growing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The video said they would and have been growing proportionally so far. Likely the donor was a child of similar age.

    2. Re:Keep growing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I expect they will. As his whole body is growing, there will be growth hormones in his body, so I would expect them to grow with his body.

  8. Incredible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's incredible. It's also nasty AF. How weird would it be to have someone else's paws? Hey, what if they were black, or brown, or yellow?

    1. Re:Incredible by avandesande · · Score: 1

      how weird would it be to have two stumps that can't do anything

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Incredible by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 0

      how weird would it be to have two stumps that can't do anything

      I don't know, ask the English cricket team.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re: Incredible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *Crickets*

    4. Re:Incredible by imatter · · Score: 1

      what if they only had two right hands and one of them was black.

    5. Re:Incredible by Maritz · · Score: 1

      That's incredible. It's also nasty AF. How weird would it be to have someone else's paws? Hey, what if they were black, or brown, or yellow?

      There's a part of your brain that makes your body feel as if you own it, and even as if you are in it. As long as that works, they'll feel like his hands irrespective of what he's aware of intellectually.

      As for the race thing, I'll just roll my eyes. I bet you'd turn down donated hands if they were the wrong colour. Anyone with an impoverished mind would.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
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  10. Sepsis not managed in first place by Martin+S. · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The unasked question here is why was the Sepsis not managed in first place. It is well understood condition and early intervention is the key to successful outcomes, was he denied early healthcare cover, people should be told.

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidan...

    1. Re:Sepsis not managed in first place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Perhaps his parents could not afford the care he needed due to Obamacare?

    2. Re:Sepsis not managed in first place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be fascinating, seeing how he lost his limbs a year before Obamacare existed. Any more mental gymnastics scheduled this morning?

    3. Re:Sepsis not managed in first place by demonlapin · · Score: 2

      Even perfect management doesn't guarantee successful return to complete health. Supportive treatment with vasopressors means keeping the critical organs perfused with enough oxygen delivery to survive. When you have to squeeze every artery tightly with drugs in order to keep the brain, heart, kidneys, etc., perfused, guess what parts of the body run out of blood flow first? The ones with the smallest arteries, farthest from the core - i.e., the extremities. Almost certainly what happened here.

      I don't treat sepsis these days, but I did as a resident. Even very aggressive treatment isn't always enough. You do what you can and hope for the best. I watched a perfectly healthy 20-something nurse go from a mild cough to death in three days because the wrong bacterium got hold of him.

  11. Not impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I initially read it as double head transplant

  12. Keep Growing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um... I hope those hands keep growing with him...

  13. Mad Love by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026663/

  14. Slashdot Editors... by almitydave · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, I'm not normally one to bitch and moan about the editorial staff, but how the heck is this article not from the "give-em-a-hand dept."?!?

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  15. 's by antdude · · Score: 1

    Are you missing somethig? ;)

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  16. Rad(ical)! by antdude · · Score: 2

    I was born without a thumb and with a tiny annoying useless thumb (couldn't move it due to lack of bones and muscles -- it was removed in 1984) as parts of my disabilities. Almost a decade later, I got a surgery to rotate my right hand's left non-thumb finger 90 degrees into a thumb. It was a success. I can use it for writing better, holding light cups, etc. However, it is not very strong. I still use my left untouched hand for heavier and stronger stuff. I didn't want to make a thumb for that hand for that reason. :)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  17. Website by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

    Your logo is pretty illegible. The overall look is not great, but it kinda has a hacker lack-of-aesthetic. How do you feel about something a little more graphic?

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    1. Re:Website by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it's very old from 2004. Also, it's broken so...

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      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).