German doctors have succeeded in transplanting two complete arms onto a 54-year-old man.
The hospital has described the double transplant as the world's first operation of this kind.
During 15 hours of surgery, a team of 40 medics attached the arms to a farmer who lost both his arms in an accident six years ago.
The hospital has reported that the patient is well.
Doctors said one of the main difficulties for full-arm transplants was finding donors as people find it more acceptable to donate a relative's internal organs than whole limbs.
In 2005, French doctors performed the world's first partial face transplant on a 38-year old woman, who had her nose, cheeks, mouth, lips and chin replaced by donor tissue after they were torn off by her dog.
