World’s First Double Arm Transplant

Mon, Aug 4, 2008

A farmer who lost both arms in an accident six years ago has undergone a double arm transplant in Germany.

Prosthetic arms
Image by: US Army photographer, Walter Reed

Five teams of surgeons took 15 hours to attach the two new appendages at a clinic in Munich last month. Both arms were removed from the 19 year-old donor patient at exactly the same point matching the recipient’s arm stumps and after some awesome handy work the new arms soon took on a lovely rosy glow. However, it could take up to two years before the 54 year-old patient is able to use his new hands as the nerves still need to grow.

His doctor said, “He won’t play the piano but otherwise he will live much better than before.”

Guess he can finally enjoy the joke: Where are the Andies? … on the end of your armies. Boom, boom!

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donor transplants, new limb surgery, prosthetic arms, surgical transplant, world first arm transplant

This post was written by:

Linda McCormick - who has written 162 posts on Environmental Graffiti.

Linda is a writer and editor, currently based in London. Growing up in N Ireland, she craved sunnier climes so set off around the world, forever chasing the sun. On her travels she discovered she was much more passionate about the environment than she realised – although never quite got the whole tree-hugging thing – and has always had a penchant for the unconventional and creative side of life, so working at Environmental Graffiti suits her just fine.

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