What happened to the woman whose male hands were transplanted?

In 2016, 18-year-old Shreya Siddanagoder from Indialost her hands below the elbow as a result of a car accident. A year later, doctors managed to transplant her lost limbs from a black male donor who died during the accident on the eve of the accident. This resonant story could end if not for the changes that began to occur with the new hands of the girl, reports livescience.com. So, the skin on the new extremities of Shreya began to lighten, and their common features became much more harmonious than before.

Shreya Siddanagoder and her new hands

Girl with male hands

After Shreya Siddanagoder in 2017underwent a 13-hour hand transplant operation performed by a team of 20 surgeons and 16 anesthetists, the girl was forced to attend supporting physiotherapy for a year and a half, which helped the patient gain control of the transplanted hands. As the hands and hands that once belonged to another person gradually became their own, the limbs of Siddanagoder began to change, acquiring a more harmonious shape than it was before and during transplantation. After a while, another unexpected change occurred: the skin on the hands, which at one time belonged to a black donor, became much lighter in color. More in line with the original skin tone of Siddanagoder than a 21-year-old young man whose hands, by chance, were a real salvation for an Indian girl, the transplanted limbs of the Shrei confused scientists.

Shreya Siddanagoder is not the first person who has transplanted other people's hands. The first is a boy named Zion Harvey, who can be read about in our special material.

The doctors who treated Siddanagoder suspectthat the girl’s body produces less melanin than the donor’s body, which may explain the lightening of her new limbs. Although scientists need additional research to confirm this theory, experts are confident that donor organs can adapt to the physiology of their new host over time. However, in order for the transplanted arms and legs not to be rejected by the immunity of the patient who needs them, doctors had to take into account several important criteria at once.

Shreya's hands, before the operation belonged to a man, eventually began to lighten and acquire female features

How does a transplant of arms and legs go?

Hand transplant candidates are evaluated andconsultations, the total duration of which can last for months. Before carrying out the necessary operation, specialists need to conduct a general assessment of the patient’s health status, take blood tests, and also check the nervous function in the amputated limbs. After all necessary procedures have been completed, suitable candidates are placed on a waiting list that takes into account factors such as skin color, size of the required limb and blood type.

Hands of Shreya Siddanagoder immediately after surgery and a year and a half after transplantation

The operation, which was carried out in the centertransplantation Institute of Technology in Karnataka, became the first double hand operation performed in Asia. Experts who performed a complex operation are sure that the appearance of more feminine forms can be explained by muscles that adapt to a new host.

This is called reinnervation - a process whenwhich muscles begin to function according to the needs of the body, ”said Dr. Uday Hopkar, head of the department of dermatology at King Edward Hospital in Mumbai.

According to official statistics, by nowless than 100 people worldwide have the opportunity to transplant hands lost in an accident or illness. Having become one of those fortunate enough to regain at least partially working limbs, Shreya Siddanagoder and her new hands help scientists make observations regarding changes in the color and shape of donor transplants.

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By the way, earlier Hi-News already wrote that one of the immediate prospects for humanity could be the transplantation of individual organs not only from person to person, but even from animals.