By Rick Howlett
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A team of surgeons has begun a double hand transplant at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville. This surgery is the sixth hand transplant procedure at the center and the first there to involve two hands.
It's also the first to include Twitter updates from just outside the surgical suite. The surgical team, led by Dr. Warren Breidenbach, includes doctors from Kleinert, Kutz and Associates and the University of Louisville.
No information has been released about the patient or donor. The operation is being performed under a Department of Defense program. It began around 7:30pm Tuesday and was expected to last 16 to 20 hours.
The nation's first hand transplant was performed at Jewish Hospital in 1999.