Young man gets transplant for both forearms at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences

KOCHI: In a unique and rare surgical procedure, both forearms of a 21-year-old patient have been successfully transplanted at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi. This is the third twin-hand transplant done in the hospital. Jith Kumar Saji, hailing from Iritti in Kannur district, lost both his hands below the elbow in 2013 due to electrical burns. He received the hands of Raison Sunny, who was declared brain dead after he met with an accident. His hands were rushed to Amrita Hospital from Angamaly. After the surgery, Jith Kumar spent three weeks in the transplant ICU and is now healthy enough to be discharged.

“Compared to the previous two hand transplants, the surgery was technically more challenging and complicated. In hand transplants done above the wrist, the tendons are connected with each other while in forearm transplants these connections have to be made to the muscle mass. Identification, tagging and connecting the nerves, tendons and arteries is very challenging. This is the major reason why forearm transplants have not been attempted widely. Only seven or eight cases have been reported in the world so far,” said Dr. Subramania Iyer, head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Bringing the hand from Angamaly to the hospital in a short time was also
a tough task.

“Since, the transplant involved a large number of muscles, rejoining them to the recipient’s body and re-establishing blood supply had to be quicker,” added Dr. Iyer. The surgical procedure, which lasted more than 14 hours, was performed by a jumbo team of doctors including 25 surgeons and a 12-member anaesthetic team. Though the hospital authorities fixed Rs 20 lakh as the total expense for the surgery and one month stay, the entire amount was raised by philanthropists and sponsors as the patient belongs to an economically backward family.