2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Reginald Cook with surgeons
For the first time in history, American surgeons performed a transplant of a patient's own elbow from one arm to the other. The case is described in a press release from the University of California, San Francisco.
Reginald Cook, now 37, was injured in a 2009 car accident. He fell into a coma for several months due to a brain injury, was left with paralyzed legs and suffered several broken bones, including a fracture of his right elbow joint. At the same time, he had a complete rupture of the left brachial plexus, due to which his hand was paralyzed with no hope of recovery.
Kuku had a right elbow prosthesis installed, but he developed a postoperative infection, as a result of which the prosthesis and some of the adjacent bones had to be removed. As a result, the right hand was fixed at a right angle and, despite a fully working hand, could not perform its functions. Thus, the man lost the ability to use both hands.
Cook's right hand before surgery
His Texas orthopedic surgeon, Eric Sides, contacted colleague Lisa Lattanza of the University of California Medical Center, where the surgery was eventually carried out. The specialists decided to amputate the left arm and transplant its elbow joint from to the right one, despite its "mirror" device.
The planning of the surgery using 3D modeling lasted from November 2015 to April 2016 - doctors had to think about how to match bones, attach ligaments and tendons, and connect vessels and nerves. On April 15, five surgeons, two orthopedic hand specialists and three microvascular and plastic surgeons performed the operation. The intervention took place simultaneously on both hands and lasted 12 hours.
“The bones have grown together normally, the joint is working well, the graft is alive. [The patient] moves his hand, which means that the nerves are not damaged during the operation,”Lattanza said, adding that a month after the intervention, Cook can bring his hand to his face on his own. Limb sensitivity recovered. Surgeons expect that after a year of rehabilitation, the patient will be able to eat and dress on his own.
