UK’s first double hand transplant operation carried out successfully

The UK's first double hand transplant operation has been successfully carried out by a team from Leeds General Infirmary.

Eight surgeons spent 12 hours in the operating theatre performing the procedure on patient Chris King, with three consultant anaesthetists also attending during the surgery and a consultant in transplant medicine on hand to advise.

Mr King lost both his hands, except the thumbs, in an accident involving a metal pressing machine at work three years ago. He has already experienced some movement in the new hands, suggesting the complex procedure has been a success.

He is the first person to have undergone the procedure since NHS England awarded the contract to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to become the UK's specialist centre for hand transplants in April.

The patient is also only the second person in the country to have a hand transplant of any kind, following on from the procedure carried out at Leeds General Infirmary in 2012 on Mark Cahill.

Professor Simon Kay, who led the transplant surgery team, said: "This the first time, as far as I'm aware, that a hand transplant's been done which hasn't been above the wrist, which has been within the substance of the hand."