Spain's first double leg transplant to be performed in Valencia
Spain's first double leg transplant to be performed in Valencia
Valencia's Hospital La Fe has been given permission by the National Transplant Organisation (NTO) to carry out the world's first double leg transplant.
The report by the NTO points out that the patient has had both his legs amputed below the knee and has not been able to tolerate prosthetic limbs.
The operation will be carried out at La Fe hospital in conjunction with the Pedro Cavadas foundation, with Cavadas himself leading the team of surgeons.
The double leg transplant is still in its experimental stages, as was the case with the recent face transplant and double hand transplant.
Yesterday's decision to allow Cavadas to perform the operation in Valencia relates to this patient only. It is not blanket permission for either his team or the hospital to carry out more operations of this type.
Once this operation is completed, Spain will have seen a total of seven experimental transplants involving layers of different types of body tissue, including three double hand transplants (in Valencia's Hospital La Fe), three face transplants (at Valencia's La Fe, at the Virgen del Rocío hospital in Sevilla and at the Vall de Hebrón hospital in Barcelona.
