Nguyen Van Vuong becomes the first patient in the world to undergo a limb transplant from a living donor.

The patient, 31-year-old Nguyen Van Vuong, lost part of his lower left arm in a labor accident in 2016 while the donor lost his upper arm, also in a labor accident, 4 years later. The operation took place last month.

“The surgery last 8 hours, from 10am to 6pm. We had to connect 36 muscles and nearly 40 bones,” said Nguyen The Hoang, the hospital’s Deputy Director.

Vuong's left hand recovers after the surgery in January, 2020.

One month after the operation, the recipient has been able to hold some items with his left hand and the chance for a full recovery is more than 50%.

89 limb transplants have been performed around the world since 1998. All the donors in these cases were brain dead.