A man whose identity has not been revealed had to be amputated again, two years after receiving the first transplant of both legs following a traffic accident.
The operation, a world first, was performed in July 2011 at La Fe hospital in Valencia, Spain, by specialist surgeon Pedro Cavadas. At the time, the doctor advocated caution while awaiting the results of the operation. The patient therefore followed an intense anti-rejection treatment, which he had to stop after a year and a half because of a complication related to a disease that had nothing to do with the transplant.
In this case, when the transplanted organ is not vital, it is advisable to remove the grafts so that the patient can concentrate on treating his disease, which is more important than the rest.
The hospital, which is not authorized to give more information on the transplant recipient’s medical situation, simply explained in a statement that “the patient had to undergo an operation to have his transplanted extremities amputated.”
