Here are six key notes:
1. The surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto an eight-year-old boy. The boy had undergone amputation of his hands and feet as well as a kidney transplant, following a serious infection.
2. L. Scott Levin, MD, led the team.
3. Dr. Levin is the chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at Penn Medicine; director of the hand transplantation program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and professor of surgery, division of plastic surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
4. Scott H. Kozin, MD, chief of staff for Shriners Hospitals for Children — Philadelphia (where the patient was initially referred) also collaborated during the 10-hour procedure.
5. The surgical team was divided into four operating teams working simultaneously — two focused on the donor limbs and two focused on the recipient.
6. The patient is currently in CHOP’s rehabilitation unit and will be discharged in a few weeks.
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