First Forearm Transplant Performed by Canadian Doctors; Operation was a Success!

A group of Toronto doctors performed the first hand and forearm transplant in Canada. The procedure was successful and it opened the doors for the said special procedure to be offered in the country.

A 49-year-old woman, who lost her arm and elbow in an accident over the years ago, underwent the lengthy procedure, CTV News reported.

"To the best of our knowledge, it is the first one for Canada," said Dr. Steven McCabe, who led the surgery at the Toronto Western Hospital. "t's not a breakthrough as far as doing a new operation, but it means that we have it available now here and that we have a capability of doing this procedure."

McCabe has the experience and skills in the said operation. The medical professional was part of a team in Louisville, Ky., who performed the first successful transplant in the world in 1999. He moved to Canada three years and six months ago and became the director of Toronto Western Hospital's hand and upper extremity transplant program.

The team did a series of tests after finding a patient for the transplant.

"We have a very thorough medical, psychological and surgical evaluation to make sure that the procedure can have a good hope of working well. And also that the patients are safe to use the immunosupression medication and that they have good support throughout the transplant process," he said. "In this patient's case, it was probably more than a one-year process."

McCabe disclosed that they used the same surgical techniques that were applied in the U.S. on the first transplant. However, he stressed that the immunology field over time have increased the chances of the procedure's success.

The transplant was performed earlier this month. The process took 14 hours and involved 18 surgeons. The transplant recipient was not identified but she is recovering well. McCabe noted that she still doesn't have movement in her hand.

"The function of the hand transplant depends on regeneration of the nerves," he explained. "So we have transplanted the hand and reconnected the nerves. They will have to regrow into the muscles and into the skin ... to give the feeling."

The surgeon stressed that they are not expecting any movement in the transplanted hand in the next three to six months. However, he explained that her hands would continue to improve for over two years. In time, the patient will regain the useful feeling and useful motion of her hand, which will give a sense of satisfaction that one could not get with prosthetics.

As for the success of the operation, CBC News has learned that McCabe and his colleagues prepared for more than a year for the said procedure. "We've been preparing quite intensively for over a year to get ready for this operation," McCabe said. The surgeons involved in the operations also practice in a simulation facility prior to the actual procedure.