UCLA surgeons perform first hand transplant in California
A young mother who lost her right hand in a traffic accident five years ago has become the first person to receive a hand transplant in California and the 13th in the U.S., UCLA officials said Monday.
The Northern California woman, 26, whose name was not released, was doing well after the 14-hour procedure at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s new hand transplantation center. The operation concluded about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The recipient had been identified as a good candidate for the surgery last year after she contacted UCLA, but doctors had to wait to find an appropriate donor hand that matched the recipient’s tissue type and was of similar size, color and hair pattern. A Southern California family made the donation through Lifesharing, a nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization in San Diego and Imperial counties. No other information was released about the donor.