The hand transplantation process at Penn Medicine
Hand transplantation is a groundbreaking surgery where hands from a deceased donor are surgically attached to the recipient’s arms. This delicate procedure involves connecting all of the tissues in the hands and arms: blood vessels, bones, cartilage, fat, muscles, skin, and tendons.
Fewer than 100 hand transplants have been performed in the United States. Our team is proud to be able to offer this rare surgery to adults and children. In collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), we were the first in the nation to perform a bilateral hand transplant for a child.
Your transplant nurse coordinator is your guide through every part of the transplant process. The steps include:
Our team performs an extensive evaluation to determine whether you’re a candidate for hand transplantation. During your evaluation, you meet with surgeons and other providers on the transplant team.
We do a careful physical screening to make sure your muscles and nerves are healthy enough to accept a transplant. We also take care to evaluate your emotional readiness for hand transplant and recovery, which requires extensive physical therapy and rehabilitation.
If you’re a good candidate for hand transplant, we submit your information to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS is an organization that coordinates distribution of donor organs in the U.S. The best donor hand match for you will come from a donor with your blood type who’s close to your age and has a skin color that’s similar to yours. When donor hands become available, we contact you and ask you to come to the hospital, for hand transplant surgery.
You may need to stay in the hospital for several weeks, and during that time we closely monitor all aspects of your recovery. We perform frequent tests to make sure you’re healing well and start you on immunosuppressant medications to reduce the risk of organ rejection.
As you heal, we check the function of your transplanted hand for sensation and ability to move. You’ll work with a physical therapy team to develop hand function and strength.