Welcome

The Composite Tissue Allotransplantation program is a partnership of physicians and researchers at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center, Kleinert Kutz & Associates, and the University of Louisville. The group developed the pioneering hand transplant procedure. Warren C. Breidenbach, M.D., and his team were the first surgeons to perform hand transplants in the U.S. As of August 2010, there have been a total of 61 hands transplanted on 45 patients around the world.

A hand transplant, unlike a solid organ transplant, involves multiple tissues (skin, muscle, tendon, bone, cartilage, fat, nerves and blood vessels) and is called composite tissue allotransplantation.

Oklahoma Man Receives Rare Double Hand Transplant

Dr. Rich Edwards, a 55-year-old man from Edmond, Oklahoma, received a rare double hand transplant at Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center on August 24-25, 2010. The surgery, performed by physicians from Kleinert Kutz & Associates and the University of Louisville, was chronicled live on Twitter.

For more information on Dr. Edwards, including video and photos, click here.

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare Kleinert Institute Kleinert Kutz Hand Care Center University of Louisville School of Medicine