Karl Merk, 54, showed his arms, which were supported by a special corset attached to his shoulders, at the teaching hospital of the Technical University here. He was with the doctors who performed the 15-hour transplant from July 25 to 26.
Merk said he is still healing the graft and undergoing physical therapy to learn how to move the new arms. He could already open doors and push light switches.
Five groups of surgeons performed the operation on Merk in two separate operating rooms starting at 10 p.m. Two teams separated two arms from a dead donor and two teams attached each arm to Merk. A fifth team transferred a leg vein from the donor to Merk.
The surgeons first exposed the muscle, nerves and blood vessels to be connected. Next, they filled the arms' blood vessels with a cooled preservation solution and then cut the bones at the point where it will match with the patient's arm stumps. Lastly, the bones, veins and arteries were joined before the muscles, tendons, nerves and skin were attached.
