Michigan Man Receives Hand Transplant

Transplant News,  Jan, 2007  

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A Michigan man who lost his right hand in a work-related accident more than 30 years ago became the third successful hand transplant recipient in the United States, doctors said November 30. David F. Savage was doing well the day after the surgery at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky. Doctors said the transplant for Savage, 54, presented unusual challenges because of the length of time between losing his hand in a machine press and the surgery. The blood vessels leading to Savage's hand had shrunk because they were not in use, said Dr. Warren Breidenbach, the lead surgeon.

Of the two dozen hand transplant recipients worldwide, Savage, of Bay City, Mich., may have gone the longest between losing a hand and having a transplant, Breidenbach said. That amount of time creates a "slightly higher risk" of vascular compromise, when blood stops flowing, because the blood vessels used in the transplant were dormant for so long. The procedure involved two surgeries and 32 doctors over 16 hours on November 29, the day the anonymous donor died. Savage is serving as a test case for a drug called Campath to ward off rejection. If Savage's body rejects the new hand, it will happen in the first three to six months, doctors said.

Link: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113000473.html (12/06/06)

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