SIU School of Medicine is excited to announce the official launch of its hand transplant program, the first in Illinois and one of only 11 in the country.  Transplantation is a newer option for patients who have lost one or both hands/arms and are unhappy with the function and appearance of prosthetics.

“SIU is known nationally and internationally for our expertise in microsurgery and replantation, or re-attachment of fingers, hands and arms,” said Dr. Michael Neumeister, director of the hand transplant program and chair of SIU’s Department of Surgery. “This is a logical next step for us in offering state-of-the-art reconstructive procedures to the region.”

A grant from the Memorial Medical Center Foundation made it possible to establish the new transplant program. An operation of this nature requires an extensive multi-disciplinary team, with specialists from almost every field in medicine. It’s headed by the SIU Institute for Plastic Surgery in partnership with transplant nephrology at Springfield Clinic and Memorial Transplant Services.

Patient recruitment and screening for transplants candidates is underway.  Since so few of these procedures have been performed across the world, hand transplantation is still considered experimental and requires approval by the Springfield Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects. SIU will screen at least 20 patients and transplant five hands during the next three years.

SIU certified hand therapist Mary Burns adjusts a hand transplant splint.

Like other organ transplants, the tissue comes from an organ donor and requires taking lifelong medications to prevent rejection. The patient must also undergo an extensive rehabilitation process after the transplant in order to regain function of the transplanted hand. “The medications required after a hand transplant are very similar to what we use to prevent rejection in kidney transplants,” said Dr. Bradford West, medical director of the kidney and pancreas transplant program at Memorial and medical director of the hand transplantation program.

“An advantage we have in hand transplants is that the organ is external, so rejection can be diagnosed and treated immediately before it causes problems. We believe that this is why hand transplants seem to survive longer than kidney transplants,” West said. At five years after transplant, about 90% of hands are still functioning well, compared to 75% for kidneys.

For questions regarding hand transplantation, to enroll in the study or to refer a patient, please contact:

Jennifer Koechle, MPH, CCRP

handtransplant@siumed.edu

Local: (217) 545-7014

Toll free: (855) SIU-HAND (855-748-4263)

Or visit our website: www.siumed.edu/handtransplant

– Shaun Mendenhall, MD