Basavanna Gowda, 34, a resident of Karnataka has lost both hid hands a decade ago while working in a rice mill in Bellary district. After long despair and struggle, Gowda received a new lease of life through a complex hand transplant at Amrita Hospital in Kochi. In July 2011, Basavanna’s hands were amputated below the elbow owing to a high-tension electrical burn that badly damaged both his hands. In 2016, he had enrolled with the hand-transplantation unit of Amrita Hospital.

The transplanted hands belonged to Nevis Sajan Mathew, 25, who was from Kottayam and declared brain dead on September 25 last year and his parents had agreed to donate their son’s organs, including hands. Basavanna underwent the surgery on September 25 and was discharged towards the end of October. 

Dr Mohit Sharma professor and head of, Centre for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Amrita Hospital said that the transplants were done in the upper third of the recipient’s forearms. The surgery was very complicated because only one-third of the natural length of arm muscles was present in the recipient. 

Dr Subramania Iyer, chairman of, Centre for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, said that the surgery was a huge success and the patient was discharged after a few weeks. The patient was required to undergo a daily routine of active and passive physiotherapy, including muscle stretching, nerve stimulation sessions to improve the nerve growth and quality of function of the new hands. He also needed to undertake muscle strengthening exercises, followed by occupational therapy and the application of various types of functional splints to facilitate his daily activities for at least a year to ensure a good functional outcome and had to take lifelong medications to prevent the rejection of the transplanted hands.

The transplant team at Amrita hospital included Dr Subramania Iyer, Dr Mohit Sharma, Dr Kishore P, Dr Jimmy Mathew, Dr Janarthanan R and Dr Devajyoti Guin. This was the ninth successful hand transplant done at Amrita Hospital. 

Dr Mohit added that though multi-organ donations from deceased people were increasing in the country, instances of hands donations were very low because of fear of mutilation of the body. Currently, 6 more patients were waitlisted for hand transplantation at Amrita hospital. The team took special care to fit the donor body with prosthetic limbs to avoid any disfigurement.

Source:https://www.newindianexpress.com/good-news/2022/feb/10/karnataka-man-gets-new-pair-of-handsafter-decade-long-wait-thanks-kerala-hospital-2417519.html