Boy gets world’s first double-hand transplant

An eight-year-old boy, Zion Harvey, who lost his hands and feet at the age of two due to a serious infection, has become the world’s first child double-hand transplant recipient.

Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Penn Medicine and Director of the hand Transplantation programme at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, Dr. L. Levin, disclosed this on Tuesday.

He said the boy, from Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, Maryland, went through a 10-hour surgery involving a 40-member team of nurses, doctors and surgeons.

According to a statement, Levin, who led the team, said Zion already could move and flex his new thumbs and fingers, and was taking part in rehab to regain further dexterity.