Valencian Hospital in Pioneering Hand Transplant Operation

In the Virgen del Consuelo hospital in Valencia doctors have carried out a pioneering hand transplant operation on a man who lost use of his only hand after suffering a stroke.

The man, who had lost his left hand 40 years ago, had been unable to use his right hand since suffering from the stroke which had paralyzed the right hand side of his body three years ago.

Pedro Cavadas led a team of doctors who firstly converted the man’s right hand into a left hand by changing the place of the thumb and then transplanted it on the man’s stump where his left hand used to be, on the side of his body which can function normally.

The operation, the only one of its kind in the world, took place on 29th April this year. The patient will have to do some rehabilitation exercises over the next few months and should be able to use his ‘new’ left hand ‘reasonably well’.