A hand transplant is a medical operation to transplant a hand from one human to another. An organ transplant is the transplantation of an organ (or part of one) from one body to another, for the purpose of replacing the recipients damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor. ...

The operation is carried out in the following order: bone fixation, tendon repair, artery repair, nerve repair, then vein repair. The operation typically lasts 8 to 12 hours, whereas a typical heart transplant operation lasts 6 to 8 hours.

The recipient of a hand transplant needs to take immunosuppressive drugs, as the body's natural immune system will try to reject the hand. These drugs cause the recipient to have a weaker immune system, and suffer severely from minor illnesses. Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressants are drugs that are used in the immunosuppressive therapy to inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. ... The immune system is the organ system that protects an organism from outside biological influences. ...

A hand transplant was performed in Ecuador in the 1960s, but the patient suffered from transplant rejection after only 2 weeks. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1960s. ... Transplant rejection is a process by which the immune system of the recipient of a transplant attacks the transplanted organ or tissue. ...

The first successful human hand transplant was received by New Zealander, Clint Hallam. The operation was performed on September 23, 1998 in Lyon, France. After the operation, Hallam wasn't comfortable with the idea of his transplanted hand, and failed to follow the post operation drug and physiotherapy programme, and his body started rejecting the hand. He had his transplanted hand removed at his request on February 2, 2001. Clint Hallam (born in New Zealand) was the first recipient of a human hand transplant. ... September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Lyons), see Lyons (disambiguation). ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On the January 14, 2004, the team of Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard (Edouard-Herriot Hospital, France) declared a five-year old double hand transplant a success. The lessons learned in this case, and in the 26 other hand tranplants (6 double) which occurred between 2000 and 2005, might open the way for more common transplations of such organs as hands, face, kidney or larynx. January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

External link

• www.handtransplant.org