Indian Plastic Surgery Teams Lead with the World's Highest Number of Hand Transplants

It is a matter of pride and privilege for us that Indian plastic surgeons quietly lead the world in the highest number of hand transplants. Completing an impressive 73 upper extremity transplants as of September 2024, India has surpassed all other countries ([Fig. 1]). In addition, India has performed the highest number of double hand transplants, with a total of 33 patients, which is a testament to its high resource efficiency. Gaining experience with successive transplants, quick collaboration, and comprehensive training sessions, our plastic surgeons have performed transplants successfully in a relatively short time.

Fig. 1 Number of hand transplants in the world. (Image Courtesy: Dr Mohit Sharma and Dr Selva SeethaRaman).

India was the 15th country to perform hand transplants in 2015, relatively later than the world's first successful hand transplant in 1998. With several successful transplants in different institutions nationwide, the momentum in India is high, exceeding that of many countries. I am pleased to present preliminary data gathered through personal communications and voluntary reporting of institutions ([Table 1]). India's achievements in hand transplantation need global attention as the country is poised to make even greater strides in this area.

Table 1 Hand (upper extremity) transplant data of India[a]

	Hospital	Place	Year	Patients	Hands	Lead plastic surgeons
1	Amrita Hospitals	Kochi	2015	15	30	Dr. Subramania Iyar et al Dr. Mohit Sharma et al
2		Faridabad-NCR	2023	02	03
3	Gleneagles Hospitals	Mumbai	2020	12	22	Dr. Nilesh Satbhai et al
4		Chennai	2021	03	05	Dr. Selva SeethaRaman et al
5	JIPMER	Pondicherry	2017	03	06	Dr. Dinesh Kumar/Dr. Friji/Dr. Mohapatra/Dr. Ravi Chittoria
6	Stanley Medical College	Chennai	2017	01	02	Dr. Ramadevi/Dr. Jeyakumar P. et al
7	Sir Ganga Ram Hospital	Delhi	2024	01	02	Dr. Mangal Mahesh/Dr. Anubhav Gupta et al
8	IPGMER-SSKM Hospital	Kolkata		01	02	Dr. Arindam Sarkar et al
9	KEM Hospital	Mumbai	2021	01	01	Dr. Vinita Puri/Dr. N. Venkateshwaran et al
Total				39	73	Remarks: Rejection salvages: 7 Explantations: 2

^a Data as of September 21, 2024 (personal communication).

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
15. November 2024

• References

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