Boy gets hand and forearm transplant
with Dr L Scott Levin, who led the surgical team at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Surgeons at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine have successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto an eight-year-old boy.
Zion Harvey, who, several years earlier, had undergone amputation of his hands and feet and a kidney transplant following a serious infection, underwent surgery earlier this month.
Dr L Scott Levin, director of the hospital's Hand Transplantation Program, led a 40-member multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and other staff from plastic and reconstructive surgery, orthopaedic surgery, anesthesiology and radiology. The operation took 10 hours.
He speaks to GMB about the painstaking procedure and what the future holds for his young patient.