U.S. soldier gets double arm transplant

• Tweet

BALTIMORE, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. infantryman who lost all four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack in Iraq received a double arm transplant, his physicians say.

Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, director of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and head of the team that performed the transplant said the soldier received a transplant of two arms from a deceased donor last month.

The patient became one of only seven people in the United States who have undergone successful double arm transplants, Lee said.

The transplants involved the connection of bones, blood vessels, muscles, tendons, nerves and skin on both arms. The patient also agreed to participate in a study of a new anti-rejection regimen, Lee said.

The study of the anti-rejection regimen was sponsored by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine of the U.S. Department of Defense.

The patient, members of his family and the transplant team are scheduled to conduct a media briefing Tuesday at the The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.