Karnataka Man Who Lost Both His Hands In An Accident Get A New Pair Through Transplant
Basavanna Gowda a resident of Bellary district in Karnataka underwent successful transplant surgery. The hands were collected from Nevis Sajan Mathew a youth from Kottayam who was declared brain-dead The surgical procedure lasted nearly 14 hours and the transplants were done in the upper third of the recipients forearms. Gowda who was discharged from the hospital in October said with the transplant he got a new life.
A Karnataka man who lost both his hands in over a decade ago after he suffered a high-tension electrical burn has been given a new lease of life after undergoing a successful double hand transplant.
Two hands collected from a brain-dead donor were attached to Basavanna Gowda, a resident of Bellary district in Karnataka at the Amrita Institute of Medical Science (AIMS) in Kerala's Kochi.
BCCL
Gowda who was working in a rice mill in Bellary had suffered a high-tension electrical burn injury in 2011 after which doctors had to amputate both his arms just below the elbow.
In 2016, he enrolled for hand transplantation at the Amrita Hospital, which had performed similar surgeries in the past.
After waiting for nearly five years, in September 2021, Gowda underwent successful transplant surgery.
BCCL
The hands were collected from Nevis Sajan Mathew, a youth from Kottayam, who was declared brain-dead.
The surgical procedure lasted nearly 14 hours and the transplants were done in the upper third of the recipient¡¯s forearms.
"It was a complicated surgery because at this level of limb transplantation, only one-third of the natural length of arm muscles are present in the recipient. We had to bring the rest of the muscles from the limbs of the donor and overlap those over the existing muscles of the recipient¡¯s hands," Dr Mohit Sharma, professor and head, centre for plastic & reconstructive surgery, Amrita Hospital said.
The 34-year-old who was discharged from the hospital in October said with the transplant he got a new life.
"I feel that I have got a fresh lease of life. I am looking forward to leading a normal life," he said.
BCCL
According to Dr Subramania Iyer, chairman, Centre for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Amrita Hospital, Gowda needs to undergo a daily routine of active and passive physiotherapy, including muscle stretching. He will also have to take sessions of nerve stimulation to improve the nerve growth and quality of function of the new hands.
He will also have to undertake lengthy occupational therapies to train his new hands and finger to move normally.
According to the doctors, this was only the ninth successful hand transplant in Amrita Hospital and there are six more patients who are on the waiting list.
BCCL/ File
The first hand transplant in Amrita Hospital was done in 2015 and the recipient was a former Afghan soldier who lost his hands while defusing mines in Kandahar.
In 2017, 19-year-old Shreya Siddanagowda had become the first in Asia to get a double upper arm transplant after she underwent successful surgery in Amrita Hospital.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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