Quite Amazing - The First US Hand Transpant Patient!

Via Physorg.com is the story of the latest feat in the medical community- the first hand transplant in the USA! 57 year old Jeff Kepner of Atlanta Georgia is the first recipient of a double hand transplant in the United States.

Here's an excerpt from the story on Physorg.com

"...Showing off his hands Thursday, Kepner said he's glad he went through the surgery. He had been ambivalent because he could manage with his prosthetics and had read that the world's first double hand transplant patient had to have the hands removed because his body rejected them.




But Valarie Kepner (Jeff Kepner's wife) was persistent. She had contacted UPMC without telling her husband. She wanted him to be able to regain some of his independence after being on her schedule for years. She gets up for work at 4:30 a.m., and that meant he had to as well.

Eventually, Kepner met with Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, the hospital's chief of plastic surgery, who helped put his mind at ease.

Lee said that for the May 4 surgery, 21 surgeons worked in teams of four: two prepared Kepner's forearms and two prepared the donor's hands. The teams worked simultaneously."

Read more about the sucessful outcome and Kepner's story here.