Last week, 48-year-old Icelandic Guðmundur Felix Grétarson became the first patient in the world to undergo a double arm transplant. The operation was performed at the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, France.
Guðmundur is an electrician who lost both arms in a work accident in January 1998. He was then 26 years old. He suffered a severe electric shock while repairing a high-voltage line. The complicated operation lasted 14 hours.
According to the website 20minutes.fr in 2008 in Munich, the world’s first two-hand transplant operation was performed. This graft involved the limbs below the shoulders. Until yesterday, only one person in France had both arms transplanted below the elbows.
From the website 20minut.fr we can find out that Guðmundur’s condition is stable and remains in the intensive care unit.
Guðmundur has lived in Lyon since 2013, when it became clear that he could potentially receive a transplant there. He contacted Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard, who in 1998 became the first doctor in the world to have successfully transplanted a hand.
In an interview with mbl.is Brynjólfur Jónsson, the orthopedic surgeon who treated Guðmundur after an accident in 1998, said that in his 40-year professional career, he had never seen a person as badly injured as Guðmundur, who underwent 54 operations after the accident. Brynjólfur stated that if all went well, it would be a revolutionary transplant. The doctor describes Guðmundur as a man who relentlessly strives to solve his problems.
Source: Yle
