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Notable News From The Hand Center
First hand transplant in San Antonio (see below)
          

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Hand Center Surgeons Perform First Hand Transplant In San Antonio
On February 17, 2010 a team of surgeons from The Hand Center performed the first hand transplant in San Antonio.  The operation was done at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in conjunction with Air Force surgeons.  The team was headed by Dr. William C. Pederson and other surgeons from The Hand Center including Drs. Mark Bagg and David Person.  Dr. Jack Ingari, formerly of The Hand Center and before that Chief of Orthopaedics at Wilford Hall, also participated as well as Drs. Dmitry Tuder and Dr. Gregg Martyak, hand surgeons currently stationed at Wilford Hall.  Drs. Ingari, Person, and Tuder are all alumni of The Hand Center fellowship training program.

The recipient was only the 10th person in the United States to receive a hand transplant and only the 12th hand transplanted in this country.  All of the previous operations were performed by surgeons at either at Jewish Hospital/The University of Louisville or the University of Pittsburgh.

This patient had lost her left hand and suffered severe damage to her right hand from a bomb blast while in the Air Force, and Dr. Ingari was her initial treated physician when he was stationed at Wilford Hall.  After much discussion with the patient and evaluation, the team began preparations for the surgery in August 2008. Dr. Tuder was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of the Air Force and Army medical teams, transplant physicians from the University of Texas Health Science Center, and the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, all of whom played critical roles in making this happen.  Both the Air Force and the Army were very supportive of the entire effort.

The goal of this team is to develop a city-wide program in San Antonio to potentially offer this option to patients who have lost a hand or suffered irreparable damage to the hands.  At present, however, this type of surgery is not covered by insurance, and not every patient with the loss of a hand is a suitable candidate.  The University of Louisville team was the first to do a hand transplant in this country, but have performed only five hand transplants in 11 years, and thus this remains an infrequently indicated and unique procedure.