Hand transplant surgery

Hand transplantation is a surgical procedure where donor hands are transplanted to people who have had one or both hands amputated. Penn Medicine is one of the few transplant centers around the world to perform this rare hand transplant procedure.

Children and adult amputees who haven’t had good results using a prosthetic may be candidates for hand transplantation. We screen potential hand transplant recipients on a case-by-case basis with an extensive physical and psychological evaluation.

Hand transplant surgery is extremely complex and may take up to 24 hours. Before surgery, we’ll give you general anesthesia, so you stay asleep and comfortable for the procedure.

Unlike a solid organ transplant, a hand transplant involves many different tissues and structures, and they all must be surgically joined between your arm and the donor hand. Our hand transplant team includes experts from Penn Medicine’s orthopaedic, transplant, and plastic surgery departments. After all of the bones, nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and other structures are connected, your surgeon will join your skin with skin on the donor hand using stitches.

After surgery, we move you to a room in our intensive care unit (ICU), where you’ll wake up from the anesthesia. Your family is welcome to visit you in your room as you’re recovering. You’ll immediately start taking immunosuppressant medication to prevent an immune system reaction that could lead to organ rejection.

After several days in the ICU, we’ll move you to a regular hospital room. We’ll frequently check the function of your hand, testing for sensation, movement, and strength. You’ll also start physical therapy with a hand therapy specialist, who will teach you exercises to help you recover and get stronger.

Complete healing from surgery may take up to two months. Your transplanted hand will keep making progress and gaining function and sensation for years after surgery. We continue to monitor your progress, provide physical therapy, and watch closely for signs of rejection in the months and years after your transplant.

All transplant surgeries have a risk of blood clots, excessive bleeding, infections, and organ rejection. There’s also a risk that the transplanted hand develops only minimal function, but most hand transplant recipients gain the ability to feel pain and touch. Most also say that the procedure significantly improves their lives.

The Transplant Institute has decades of experience minimizing transplant risks by identifying and treating complications early. We’re committed to the best possible outcome for you, and we’re here to care for you for life.

Since the first Penn Medicine bilateral hand transplant in 2011, our team has been advancing the field and making hand transplant as effective as possible. With every hand transplant we perform, we refine not only the science of attaching new limbs and maximizing their function, but we also learn more about who is most likely to benefit from hand transplant. We’re working toward making this life-changing surgery accessible to as many people as possible.