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Valencia, Spain (dpa)- Doctors gave a 47-year-old Spanish woman two new hands making her the first female worldwide to receive such a transplant, sources said Monday.
The woman had lost both hands during a chemical experiment 28 years ago. The team of surgeons, led by Pedro Cavadas, said Monday in Valencia the transplant had gone successfully.
The 10-hour operation had taken place early on December 1 in the eastern Spanish port city. The transplanted hands belonged to a woman who had died just hours earlier. According to doctors, the patient will have feeling in her new hands in about six months time. She may be discharged from hospital this week.
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.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
