A 54-year old German farmer received the world’s first complete double arm transplant at the Munich University Clinic on July 25 to 26. A team of 40 surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other surgery supporting staff spent 15 hours grafting the donor arms on to the body of Karl Merk. The arms came from a teenager, who had died in a car accident only hours before the surgery.

Both the donor’s arms were removed exactly at the point matching the patient’s stumps. First the bones were jointed, then arteries and veins to ensure blood circulation as quickly as possible. The surgeons then attached the muscles, tendons, nerves and skin. There was some concern that the patient’s immune system might reject the new body parts, but the doctors said there had been “no sing” that Merk’s body rejected the tissue.

Karl Merk said Wednesday he had been recovering well after the 15-hour procedure.  

“Never before was such a large amount of foreign tissue transplanted to a person,” the transplant team said in a statement on the surgery that was conducted over two days in July.

It would take up to two years for him to relearn how to use the arms. While the process of healing continues, he must wear a special corset to prevent degeneration of his muscles until complete recovery. Merck said his ultimate goal is to use his new hands to eat and dress himself and possible ride a motorcycle.

Six years ago, the man lost his arms in a farming accident involving a combine. He was found by a colleague screaming “Kill me!” But the man saved his life. Discouraged after two attempts to attach prostheses failed, the man said he heard about advances in transplant science on television and sought advice at the university’s Rechts der Isar Clinic. He was chosen for a clinical trial which involved a complete, double arm transplant.

Merk said he at first could not believe that the transplant appeared to have been successful. “These are my arms, and I’m not giving them away again,” said the German farmer whose life has been transformed after the double arm transplant surgery.

Karl Merk talked about the success of the procedure, calling the feeling of being whole again “indescribable.” “It was really overwhelming when I saw that I had arms again,” he said. “Everyday I gain more mobility.”

Merk is recovering well and can perform simple tasks such as opening doors and turning lights on and off. He will remain nearly three months at the Munich University Clinic. He will have to continue an intensive program of physiotherapy, electric stimulation and psychological counselling for a period of two years.

Christoph Hoehnke, the head of the transplant team, said he was very optimistic about his patient’s further prognosis.  

The first arm transplant was carried out in Austria in 2003 when a man received transplanted forearms and hands.