Medical Advances
First American Hand Transplant Patient to Visit New Emory Transplant Program
Matthew Scott, the first patient in the United States to successfully undergo a hand transplant, will visit the new Emory Hand Transplant Program led by Linda Cendales, MD, assistant professor of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Cendales was on the team that performed Scott's hand transplant in 1999 at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY, and she is now at Emory gearing up to perform the first hand transplant procedure in the state and region.
Dr. Cendales, the only physician in the United States formally trained in hand surgery and transplant surgery, is establishing a new program at Emory University School of Medicine to train other experts and to conduct research on what is still a cutting-edge procedure. Under Dr. Cendales' leadership, Emory hopes to establish one of the premier centers for limb transplantation in the world.
To date, only seven patients in the U.S. have received hand transplants, including a recent double hand transplant done at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on a patient from Savannah, GA.
CNN ARTICLE: Hand Transplant Patient Learning to Use New Hand
CNN VIDEO: Hand Transplant Patient Update
