Observation of healing process of operative wound in the first Polish upper limb transplant]

The goal of this paper was to present the healing process of the operative wound of the hand transplant. The recipient was a man, 32 years of age who lost his right dominant hand 14 years ago, as a result of an accident. The transplant was made at the level of the halves of a forearm. The total ischemia time was 10.5 hrs. The recipient was qualified by a tedious process of preparation, he was thoroughly informed about all of the risks involved. The wound was primarily closed with loose sutures, without a skin graft. The healing process was complicated by creation of a large hematoma, wound dispersal and candida infection. The granulation process was very slow. Only traditional dressings were applied. The secondary wound closure was performed with a skin graft, the healing was ended after 64 days. Within this period neither general infection nor rejection symptoms were observed.