Mumbai teen is youngest in the world to get shoulder-level limb transplant, says doctor

A 15-year-old teenager from Goregaon, Mumbai, became the youngest person in the world to undergo a shoulder-level limb transplant, her doctor told Times of India in a Sept 29 report.

Anamta Ahmad underwent the surgery on Sept 18, after losing her right arm in an electrocution accident in 2022, the news outlet said.

She had been playing with her cousins at her home in Aligarh when she accidentally touched an 11 kilovolts wire, causing critical burns to both her arms.

Her right hand subsequently developed gangrene – or body tissue death – and she had to undergo multiple amputations. The teenager’s left arm was also severely injured in the aftermath, leaving limited functionality.

Anamta received the donated limb from the family of a nine-year-old girl who had been declared brain-dead in the western Indian city of Surat.

Times of India reported that the transplant was performed by plastic surgeon Nilesh Satbhai at the Gleneagles Hospital in Mumbai’s Parel neighbourhood.

It quoted the surgeon as saying that the youngest child to have undergone a hand transplant was a 10-year-old named Zion Harvey, who received a bilateral hand transplant in the US in 2017. However, the transplants were below the elbow, he added.

“Anamta is the youngest recipient of a shoulder-level arm transplant in the world. The surgery was a success, and she is now recovering,” Dr Satbhai told Times of India.

He also noted the difficulty of shoulder-level transplants, especially in cases involving electric shocks. In Anamta’s case, her injury extended above her shoulder, making the surgery even more challenging.

Dr Satbhai said healthy structures are necessary to attach a new limb, but Anamta’s muscles, blood vessels and nerves were severely damaged, requiring surgeons to work “almost inside the chest to repair these structures”.

They also had to adhere to a strict timeline required for the donor’s arm to be delivered to the hospital.

The arm had to be transported “under precise conditions”, the report said.

It was airlifted to Mumbai’s airport and taken to the hospital through specially cleared routes for ambulances, and the medical team had to restore blood circulation within six hours of procurement.

Anamta’s father, an advertisement film-maker, said he was deeply grateful to the medical team, the donor’s family and the non-governmental organisation that facilitated the donation for giving his only daughter a chance to lead a normal life again.