Gleneagles Health City Makes History with Two Hand Transplants in a week

Gleneagles Health City has made history in the field of hand transplants by surgically attaching a brain-dead donor’s hands to Mr. R. Karthick, a real estate consultant from Chennai. Karthick, now aged 31, lost both his hands a year ago when, while attending a funeral, the firework celebrations caused irreparable damage to his hands. He sought medical help in Chennai, where doctors at another hospital recommended amputation. After struggling for nearly a year without hands, Karthick received a new pair a few days ago from a donor who had met with an untimely road traffic accident.

Another patient, Mr. M. Buvan from Thanjavur , around 22 years old and the son of an auto driver, lost his dominant right hand while operating a machine. He is now the recipient of a hand from a female donor who was declared brain-dead due to a brain hemorrhage. Bilateral Hand Transplant for R Karthick was Performed on April 21st 2024 and Unilateral Hand Transplant for Mr Bhuvan was performed on 2nd May 2024.

Dr. Selva Seetha Raman, HoD & Senior Consultant, who led the team spoke on the success of the bilateral hand transplant saying, “For the bilateral hand transplant, it was a huge challenge for us. As Karthick’s hands were amputated, it took nearly 20 hours to reconstruct his hands. Thankfully, the donor’s hands were flown in from Trichy, and we received them in time for surgery. We had a team of 18 doctors, including Plastic Surgeons, Orthopedicians, Anesthetists, Nephrologists, and Intensivists, who took up this challenge.”

“In the case of Buvan, it was a unilateral hand, and the challenge we faced was that we got the hand of a female donor from Erode.  Although the number of hours spent on surgery was comparably lesser than for Karthick, the team of doctors, consisting of 16 specialists, including Plastic Surgeons, Orthopedicians, Anesthetists, Nephrologists, and Intensivists, successfully completed the procedure,” Dr. Selva Seetha Raman pointed out.

“Overall, both surgeries have been a success, with Karthick being discharged last week and Buvan scheduled to be discharged next week,” added, Dr Selva Seetha Raman

” We are grateful to Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) for their unwavering support in successfully performing two hand transplants at our hospital in two consecutive weeks. We appreciate their dedication to educating the public and promoting the importance of organ donation. This awareness has been instrumental in saving countless lives, said Dr. K. Nagesh Rao, CEO, Gleneagles HealthCity Chennai.

The history that Gleneagles Health City has created in this domain of hand transplants is the back-to-back hand transplants performed within a week and we take pride in stating our team of doctors have made this possible and this is no small feat,” added Dr K Nagesh Rao