China Reports World's First Successful Allogeneic Transplant of Forearm

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 29, 2002

China Reports World's First Successful Allogeneic Transplant of Forearm

A 51-year-old man has fully recovered after receiving an allogeneic transplant of a full left forearm in China. This is the first successful case of an allogeneic transplant of a full forearm in the world, said doctors with the No. 1 Clinic Medical College of the Harbin Medical Sciences University.

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A 51-year-old man has fully recovered after receiving an allogeneic transplant of a full left forearm in China.

The patient, who only gave his surname as Wang, left hospital in Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang province for home early Tuesday morning.

This is the first successful case of an allogeneic transplant of a full forearm in the world, said doctors with the No. 1 Clinic Medical College of the Harbin Medical Sciences University, where Wang received the transplant on June 23 last year.

Doctor Zhang Xinying said that Wang had his left forearm deformed in an accidental explosion and was admitted to the hospital for treatment.

Experts say that compared with heart transplants and other single organ, limb transplants are much more complicated, involving even more systems such as blood vessels, nerves, bone marrow, skeleton, lymph, tendon, muscle and skin.

Limb transplants are much more difficult and have a much lower success rate. The patient may also have a stronger immunological reaction as he or she receives limbs from a different person.

Doctor Zhang said that that the patient Wang's left arm was deformed above the elbow joint, and usually, a transplant for this kind of case is impossible.

Zhang said however that the development of advanced medical technology to reforge human limbs and reduce immunological rejection in the world has made limb transplants a reality.

According to Zhang, seven-month clinical observation shows that the growth of Wang's nerves of the left arm has doubled the normal speed, and there have been no side effects caused by the medicines Wang took to prevent immunological rejection.

Professor Yu Zhongyu with the Chinese Medical Association said that the successful transplant has proved that China has mastered advanced techniques in allogeneic transplants.

Yu said that this makes it possible to treat and reforge deformed limbs, previously an impossibility.

China now has more than 8.5 million people with deformed limbs, out of the total population of 1.3 billion.

Doctor Zhang Xinying said that allogeneic transplants involve new technology.

In 1998, medical workers from four countries completed the world's first allogeneic transplant of a hand in Lyon, France. Since then, a dozen similar operations have been completed in the world, seven of which were performed by Chinese doctors.

On January 13, doctor Zhang Xinying and other medical workers transplanted a pair of hands for a young man, the second case of an allogeneic transplant of a pair of hands in Asia. Now the young man is able to comb his hair, wash his face and do other things with his hands.

The patient Wang from neighboring Jilin province said that he came to Zhang's hospital after hearing the story of the young man.

Wang can now move chess pieces on a board, hold a telephone andpress the remote control to turn on a television.

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