Great need for hand and limb transplants

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Doctors are hoping hand, limb and face transplants will become more common. Composite tissue transplantation is just one of the topics at the 23rd International Congress of The Transplantation Society happening this week in Vancouver.

Transplant pioneer Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard performed the first hand transplant, double hand transplant, and first partial face transplant. He says he doesn't know when the surgery will be common, but there is a need for it.

"In France, we have 45 severe accidents each year where two hands are destroyed.  So there is a clear need for us to go very far in order to be able to give the best life to this patient," he stresses.

He says doctors in France do have to ask a dead person's family for permission to use their hands for transplants.