After transplant, man’s body rejects right hand, docs try to save the left

Kolkata: The transplanted right hand of a 27-year-old man, who underwent a bilateral hand transplant surgery at IPGMER 11 days ago, has been removed due to ‘rejection’. Doctors are still fighting to save the left hand of the man. Experts said that any transplant surgery has its own risks of graft rejection. In case of hand transplant, the risk of rejection can be as high as 85per cent within the first year of the transplant.

Hand transplant surgery made its debut in eastern India on July 15 when doctors conducted a bilateral surgery on the man. He had lost both his hands to an electrical burn about two years ago. The man was among eight potential recipients listed for the surgery at the state-run hospital.

Experts said an acute rejection happens when the immune system of the recipient tries to destroy the tissues of the donated hand. In some cases, medication might fail leaving doctors with no option but to remove the donated hand.

“There is no reason to lose hope because this was the first such transplant surgery. It may have helped had we used some guest faculty from other transplant centres in India who have been involved in conducting such surgeries,” said a Kolkata-based plastic and vascular surgeon.

“The hand transplant team should not lose hope and heart and instead look at the liver transplant team at IPGMER that has conducted one transplant after another successfully after the first debacle,” said a health department official.