Hand Transplantation: Evolution of a Personal Outlook

The field of vascularized composite allotransplantation—combining advances in reconstructive surgery, transplantation, and immunology—offers great promise for patients with heretofore unsolvable problems. In the last 30 years, hand transplantation has progressed through the phases of being a research subject, a controversial clinical procedure, a more widely accepted and expanding field, and now a promising endeavor undergoing refined indications. Although many lessons have been learned, few procedures in the author's experience have been as life-transformative in restoring the body image, motor and sensory functions, activities of daily living, and personal autonomy as successful hand transplantation.