3 ms·

I came to ask about this too - the nerves. The article briefly explains how the doctors did the surgery - The hand of the donor was first attached by bone, the

I came to ask about this too - the nerves. The article briefly explains how the doctors did the surgery - The hand of the donor was first attached by bone, then arteries, veins and tendon muscles before the skin was stitched to Shreya’s upper limb. But says nothing about the nerves. I had read that nerve damage is irreparable. Then there is the fact that that the human body also attacks transplanted organs. So I am really curious what happens in such cases - will she ever have full nerve functions in the transplanted hand and will her body start rejecting her hand?

hinkley 7y ago
That is a curious omission. I think the wiki page I linked below or another doc I tried to find something more accurate (than my recollection of fifteen year old medical documentaries) said that the regrown nerves are often weaker. Something is better than nothing. Now that you mention it, something about the article bothered me regarding rejection too. She said that they told her they had a blood type match to a donor. I was under the impression that there were much more precise tissue matching criteria that reduce the rate and chance of rejection. But second or third hand medical info can be pretty awful. She was likely much more focused on “I get to feed myself again” than medical accuracy. That guy who got the first hand transplant, I hear they were removed again. I believe he said that they started to itch so bad when rejection started that he took the doctors’ advice.