London, Jan 4 (IANS) A 51-year-old man has become the first in Britain to have a hand transplant, after suffering from gout for many years.
Mark Cahill, a resident of of Halifax, West Yorkshire, can now wiggle his fingers after having the delicate surgery, The Sun reported.
During the eight-hour surgery, his right hand was removed and the new one attached.
Surgeons at Leeds General Infirmary attached the bones in his arm and new hand with titanium plates. They also connected 12 tendons, eight blood vessels and three large nerves.
Cahill was suffering for years with gout in his hand, which was then paralysed five years ago by an infection.
The man gave up his job as a pub landlord after he was left unable to fasten buttons, cut food or play with his grandson’s toys.
But in 2012, he heard Simon Kay, professor of hand surgery at Leeds General, was looking for hand donors and recipients.
He registered his name, and got a call on Boxing Day that said a donor had been found.
The first ever hand transplant was done in France in 1997.
