Turkey does 1st triple-limb transplant
Doctors in Antalya also performed face transplant
The Associated Press
Posted: Jan 21, 2012 10:34 AM ET
Last Updated: Jan 21, 2012 10:33 AM ET
A hospital in southern Turkey has performed the world's first triple limb transplant, attaching two arms and one leg to a 34-year-old man, an official said.
At the same time, a team of doctors at Akdeniz University Hospital, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, also transplanted the face of the same donor onto another patient — a 19-year-old man. It was Turkey's first face transplant.
"Today, we have put our signature on a world first," Dr. Israfil Kurtcephe, the university hospital's rector, told reporters Saturday after the two operations. "For the first time a hospital has transplanted two arms and a leg on one patient."
Dr. Omer Ozkan, who headed a 25-member team, said both patients were being cared for in the intensive care unit and were "doing well."
The full face transplant lasted some nine hours, while the limb transplants took 12 hours.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said Atilla Kavdir, the 34-year-old receiving the limbs, lost his arms and right leg when he was 11 after he hit power lines outside his home with an iron rod to scare away pigeons and received an electric shock.
The teenage face transplant recipient was burned in a house fire when he was a baby.
The limbs and face became available early on Saturday and the hospital began the operation at 3:15 a.m., Anadolu said.
The world's first double arm transplant was in Germany in 2008, while the first double leg transplant took place in Spain in July 2011.
More than a dozen face transplants have been carried out around the world, starting in November 2005 with a French woman who was mauled by her dog. The first face transplant in the U.S. was in December 2008.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- 2 missing after B.C. mill explosion
- Two people are unaccounted for after a fire and explosion tore through a sawmill east of Burns Lake, B.C., on Friday, officials say. more »
- Italian cruise ship divers find 12th victim
- Divers searching the wreck of the Costa Concordia have found the body of a woman in the stern of the partially submerged Italian cruise ship, raising the confirmed number of deaths to 12. more »
- THE HOUSE | Funds for aboriginal education, housing could be protected
- The federal government must protect "key areas" of funding for aboriginal communities such as education and housing, one of the government's top MPs on the portfolio tells CBC Radio's The House following pre-budget consultation meetings with community stakeholders. more »
- Sidney Crosby sees neuro spine specialist
- Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is undergoing a series of tests with a neurological spine specialist, the team announced Saturday. Crosby, who hasn't played since early December because of concussion-like symptoms, travelled to California on Friday to meet with Dr. Robert S. Bray. more »
Latest Health News Headlines
- Helmets for tobogganing kids get crash tests
- A Canadian study suggests young children should wear helmets while tobogganing, but concludes there's no clear answer about what type of headgear works best. more »
- Bird flu mutation studies paused to decide next steps
- Scientists studying a more dangerous version of the H5N1 bird flu virus say they'll stop their experiments for 60 days. more »
- Untreated insomnia risks other health woes
- Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder but it often goes untreated, which increases the risk for anxiety, depression and heart failure, a review concludes. more »
- Military stress ball contract squashed by MacKay
- Defence Minister Peter MacKay squashes a plan to purchase 20,000 orange stress balls for the military saying it is an unnecessary expenses, according to his spokesman. more »
FEATURED HEALTH
- 2 missing after B.C. mill explosion
- Italian cruise ship divers find 12th victim
- Sarah Burke's medical bills covered by donations
- Gingrich could derail Romney in South Carolina
- Cuba flights to Ottawa, Toronto, report sick passengers
- Gingrich takes South Carolina primary
- 45% rent hike 'unbelievable,' East Van tenants say
- Liver and thyroid cancer rates rise
- Google, Canadian groups join Wikipedia protest