Doctors said that an Icelandic man who got the world's first double shoulder and arm transplant is recovering well after the surgery, two decades after the accident that cost him both limbs.?
They said it was still unclear how much mobility Felix Gretarsson, 48, would ultimately regain after the surgery, in the southeastern French city of Lyon, earlier this month.
But "giving a little to somebody who was missing so much, that's already a lot," Aram Gazarian, the lead surgeon in the operation, said in a news conference.
"If he can recover the possibility to actively bend his elbow, that would be a life-changer," he reportedly said.
Back in 1998 he suffered numerous fractures and internal injuries, and went into a three-month coma during which both arms were amputated by surgeons.?
He had even more surgeries, including a liver transplant.?
Gretarsson asked him if it would be possible to replace the missing limbs when hand transplant pioneer Jean-Michel Dubernard, based in Lyon, visited Reykjavik for a conference.
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The surgery was "his biggest dream" Gretarsson's wife Sylwia told the news conference on Friday, adding that she never thought the operation was really important because he "wasn't missing anything."?
It took years to identify sufficient donors, during which a total of about 50 medical personnel were involved in the preparations for the procedure.
In order to minimise the transition time between donor and recipient, four surgical teams were involved.?
The outlook for the right arm to become usable is stronger than for the left, which also needed a full reconstruction of the shoulder, doctors said on Friday.?
Nine days after the procedure, no significant problems were found, they said.
The patient was a long way from being able to lift his arms, but in a brief video shot in his hospital bed and shown at the news conference, he appeared clearly satisfied with the result.
Gretarsson has years of re-education ahead of him, but the doctors have vouched to support him.?
Also Read:?Indian Origin Doctor And Team Perform First Known Lung Transplant In US For A COVID-19 PatientWith inputs from AFP