German farmer flexes fingers after double-arm transplant

Jul 20, 2009, 12:18 GMT

Munich - A German farmer who lost both arms in an accident has been able to move the fingers on his left hand a year after a groundbreaking transplant operation, doctors said Monday.

Karl Merk, 54, from Allgaeu in southern Germany, lost both his arms up to the shoulder when he fell into a chaff-cutter in 2002.

In a 15-hour operation at the Isar Right-Bank Clinic in Munich in 2008, Merk had two donated arms attached by a team of 40 surgeons.

After many hours of physiotherapy, Merk has now been able to wiggle his new digits for the first time.

'The regeneration of the transplant is very gratifying,' said Merk's specialist, Professor Hans-Gunther Machens.

For a number of years surgeons have been able to re-attach fingers, hands and partial arms, or to graft donated limbs on to a patient.

Merk's case, however, is the first where two complete donor arms have been attached.

Merk was given hope for new arms in July 2008, when the family of a recently deceased male who matched his age, skin colour, size and blood group, agreed to donate the limbs.

Surgeons then battled against time to attach the arms, only to find that the new limbs were slightly longer than Merk's had been. Doctors then whittled down the bone to fit.

The clinic said Merk's nerve cells then slowly grew back to connect with the donated arms, and that he survived the 'rejection phase,' when his body could have had an adverse reaction to the new limbs, with strong medication.

Merk is due to give a press conference on Wednesday.

Machens said that 'in the future, in conjunction with other clinics we would like to establish a centre for limb reconstruction.'