Hand Transplantion

Professor Owen was the organizer, and with Professor Dubernard of France, the co-ordinator of the first successful hand transplantation operated upon by himself and his International Team of microsurgeons in Lyon on 23 September 1998.

At one year follow up

No rejection - confirmed by regular skin biopsies
Drugs reduced - from four to two imunosuppressives
Drug dosage reduced - from high to low daily doses
Excellent feeling - to all fingertips
Improving motor function - with his transplanted right hand, Clint Hallam could write firmly, use knife and fork in eating, pinch his index finger and thumb together, hold a glass, cup and telephone securely, and drive a car.

One Year after, conclusions

Beyond doubt a hand transplant, from a dead body, called in our language a 'Composite Tissue Allograft', is at least as useful to the recipient as are the replantation of the patient's own totally severed hands, that are now beeing replaced by Microsurgical Reconstructive Surgeons. This type of surgery requires the experienced skills of a multi disciplinary team consisting of Microsurgical hand surgeons, hand physiotherapists and haematological, radiological and histological resources of a major Transplantation Centre, together with a resourceful and enthusiastic donor procurement centre such as France's EFG.

At 21 Month Follow Up

(after 3 periods of up to 3 months without medical supervision)
Rejection - some small episodes quickly controlled by drug dose variations.
Sensory Function - excellent finger and palm sensation continues.
Motor Function - not progressing as fast as predicted, but patient chose not to be supervised by our trained hand therapists, and was travelling about, not keeping his appointments for strict follow up therapy.
Note About the Patient - This man's extensive travels, without medical supervision, placed him by his own choice, in charge of adjusting his medication. This is not the way the International Team planned to look after our series of patients, all of whom -apart from Mr. Hallam, are cooperative in their treatment.

29 Month Follow Up

Clint voluntarily stopped taking any medication at all to prevent rejection, for reasons his doctors do not comprehend. It still took 3 months before his transplant eventually commenced rejecting. At Clints written request his hand was re-amputated, with him still fit and cheeky as ever, in February 2002. The success of his first two years and 4 months and what was learned from his case encouraged ours and other Transplantation Microsurgeons in 6countries to continue the success of composite tissue transplantation. There are now 23 transplanted hands working well in the world, as at Mid 2003, in France (first single hand, first double hands), Austria (double hand), America, Belgium, Italy and China. We salute these courageous people.

Note 1: "REPLANT" is replacement of your own hand. "TRANSPLANT" is replacement with another human's hand.

Note 2: Prof Owen, then Dr Earl Owen, in 1970 assisted by his brother-in-law Dr Lendvay were the first in the World to successfully replant the totally amputated index finger for a two year old child - in Sydney's Childrens Hospital.

Pictures show the boy's replanted finger when aged 2 and then when he was a 28 year old.