American Zion Harvey has made history by becoming the first child to receive a double-hand transplant.
The eight-year-old from Baltimore, Maryland, who had lost his hands and both feet due to an infectious disease when he was two years old, was operated in Philadelphia by a team of 40 medical practitioners, led by Doctor L. Scott Levin.
Doctors have hailed the operation as a medical breakthrough. Only a dozen or so potential donors become available every year. Zion is hoped to be able to use his hands in eight months – the time it will take for the nerves in his fingers to regenerate, reports Euronews.com.
He will have to take immune-suppressing drugs for a lifetime, to ensure his body doesn’t reject the new limbs.
Doctors say the surgery is highly likely to be the start of further use of transplant surgery for children.
