In a world's first, 8-year-old Zion Harvey has become the recipient of a bilateral hand transplant. With the first such procedure successfully completed in 2011 on a patient in her 20s, Zion has become the youngest to ever undergo this transplant. Zion, who lost his hands as well as his legs below the knee and wears lower limb prosthetics due to a septic bacterial infection when he was only 2 years old, benefited from the experience of the Hand Transplant Project doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Led by Dr. L. Scott Levin, the 40-strong member team of doctors and nurses successfully transplanted two donor hands onto Zion. The donor hands were found to be a size fit for the boy due to 3D printed models created by Dr. Levin and a colleague, created via CT scans of the patient's forearms in sizes 20% smaller and 20% larger--the range that would fit him. Read more about this groundbreaking and life-changing procedure at 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/85362/zion-harvey-hand-transplant/


Below is a photo of post-op Zion Harvey, with his new hands, and his mother, Pattie Ray: