A history of successful hand transplants

A 51-year-old man from West Yorkshire has become the first person in the UK to have a hand transplant.

Mark Cahill had the operation on the 27 December and doctors have said he is making "good progress".

• Leeds Teaching Hospitals announced in late 2011 that it was starting to look for potential candidates for hand or arm transplants.
• The UK team has been working closely with colleagues in Lyon, France, where hand transplants were pioneered in 1998.
  

• A new technique meant Mr Cahill could have his non-functioning right hand removed in operation where a donor hand was also transplanted.

• The first-ever recipient in France was New Zealander Clint Hallam, who later had his new hand removed as he felt "mentally detached" from it.
• Doctors in the United States, Austria and France have carried out a number of successful hand transplants.