A team of surgeons and doctors at a hospital in Valencia carried out a pioneering first double hand transplant. A 47-year-old Spanish woman got two new hands making her the first female worldwide to receive such a transplant
She had had to have both her hands amputated after a chemical explosion, said the leading surgeon Pedro Cavadas.
The patient, who may be released from hospital this week, should recover full use of her hands within six months.
Spanish sources said that so far there had been only six cases – in France, Austria and China – of transplanting both hands. However, the patients had all been men.