PITTSBURGH (AP) — The first double hand transplant recipient in the U.S. has left a hospital after medicine cleared up a rash that signaled he might be rejecting his new hands.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center spokeswoman Amy Dugas told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that 58-year-old Jeff Kepner was discharged Monday from UPMC Montefiore hospital.
Kepner received the hands at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in May and went home in October. He was hospitalized last week after he developed the rash on both hands. Dugas says the rash went away after doctors applied an ointment to suppress his immune system.
Kepner, a former pastry chef, lost his hands and feet a decade ago to a bacterial infection. The donor was a 23-year-old man.
