German farmer gets new arms in 1st double transplant

Published 10:34 pm Saturday, August 2, 2008

MUNICH, Germany — A German farmer who lost both his arms in an accident has been successfully fitted with two new limbs in what is believed to be the first complete double-arm transplant, his surgeons said Friday.

Reiner Gradinger, medical director at the Munich University Clinic, said doctors spent 15 hours on July 25-26 grafting the arms onto the body of a 54-year-old man who had lost his just below the shoulder in the accident six years ago.

“The reattachment appears up to now to have proceeded optimally,” Gradinger said, adding the patient is recovering well.

In London, Keith Rigg, vice president of the British Transplantation Society, said he believes the operation was the world’s first double arm transplant.

Christoph Hoehnke, another surgeon on the team, said the complicated procedure involved a team of 40 doctors, nurses and assistants working together, attaching one arm and then the other.