http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3158287/Worlds-first-double-arm-transplant-patient-delighted.html
Karl Merk, a German dairy farmer whose arms had been amputated after an accident, said he felt like a "whole man" again as he spoke for the first time since the operation in July.
"The feeling is indescribable. Every day I gain more mobility," said Mr Merk as he showed off the arms, which are being supported by a special "corset" while the healing continues.
Six years ago Mr Merk lost his arms in a farm maize threshing machine. Found by a colleague as he lay bleeding to death, he screamed: "Kill me, kill me!" But the man saved his life instead.
Doctors at the teaching hospital of the Technical University in Munich then planned a world first: to transplant two arms at once. The procedure was conducted over two days in July.
A team of 40 surgeons and nurses working in two operating rooms removed the arms from the donor, who had died only hours before, and transplanted them to mr Merk, who had only been left with small stumps just below his shoulders following his amputations.
The first step was to expose the muscle, nerves and blood vessels to be connected. Before the bones of the donor could be cut, blood vessels in Mr Merk's arms were filled with a cooled preservation solution.
Both arms were then removed exactly at the point matching the patient's arm stumps. First the bones were joined, then arteries and veins to ensure blood circulation as quickly as possible.
The surgeons then attached the muscles and tendons, then the nerves and finally the skin.
Doctors have been closely monitoring Mr Merk's progress ever since, as he undergoes physical therapy as well as psychological counselling.
The doctors said in a statement that there had been "no sign" that Merk's immune system was rejecting the foreign tissue, as was feared before the procedure, and that his scars were healing well.
The medical team said that hand and lower arm transplants were still rare and that the Munich operation, by attaching an elbow joint as well as an upper arm, posed a greater challenge for the immune and circulatory systems.
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Wow...two complete arms...skin, bones, tissue, and all....amazing!
