Doctor: 2nd Hand Transplant Not Out Of The Question

A Boston surgeon who helped perform a face and double-hand transplant on a Connecticut woman mauled by a chimpanzee says even though the hand transplants failed, the woman could undergo another hand transplant in the future.

Dr. Bohdan Pomahac says Charla Nash's left arm was replaced at the mid-forearm. Her right hand was replaced at the wrist, except for the thumb, which was all she had left after the February 2009 attack.

He says the right hand replacement was "technically challenging" because a partial transplant had never been done.

Several days after the operation, Nash developed pneumonia and suffered a drop in blood pressure, which compromised blood flow to the hands. Doctors eventually had to remove the transplanted hands.