Region's First Double Hand Transplant Performed at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Penn Medicine Surgeons Team, with Gift of Life, Extends Frontier of Life-Enhancing Surgery

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time in the Delaware Valley Region, a patient has undergone a complex and intricate transplant procedure that could significantly enhance the quality-of-life for persons with multiple limb loss.

Last month, a highly-skilled, specially-trained team from the newly established Penn Hand Transplant Program at the Penn Transplant Institute performed its first bilateral (double) hand transplant. Working closely with its partner, Gift of Life Donor Program, a team of 30 members - 12 surgeons, three anesthesiologists and 15 nurses - performed the 11-and-a-half hour double transplant procedure - a Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation - that involved experts in solid organ transplantation, orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery, reconstructive microsurgery and anesthesia.

Details of this history-making procedure will be forthcoming at a press conference to be held at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

WHEN:
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
10 a.m.

WHERE:
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Flyers/76ers Theatre
Ravdin Building, Ground Floor
34th & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Media should enter the Main Entrance of HUP on 34th Street
Once inside the Main Ravdin Lobby make a right
Theatre down the hall on the right

WHO:
L. Scott Levin, M.D., FACS.
Director, Penn Hand Transplant
Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Paul B. Magnuson Professor of Bone and Joint Surgery
Professor of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery

Benjamin Chang, M.D.
Co-director, Penn Hand Transplant
Program Director and Associate Chief, Division of Plastic Surgery
Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery

Richard D. Hasz
Vice President, Clinical Services
Gift of Life Donor Program

Abraham Shaked, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Penn Transplant Institute
Vice Chairman, department of Surgery
Eldridge L. Eliason Professor of Surgery

Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D. (Via Prerecorded Interview)
Director, Center for Bioethics
Professor, Medical Ethics

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4 billion enterprise.

Penn's Perelman School of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools and among the top 10 schools for primary care. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $507.6 million awarded in the 2010 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top 10 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital - the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2010, Penn Medicine provided $788 million to benefit our community.

Gift of Life: Since 1974, Gift of Life has served as the link between donors and patients awaiting life-saving transplants in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Gift of Life Donor Program is the nation's most active and well-respected organ procurement organization, coordinating more than 32,000 life-saving organ transplants and hundreds of thousands of tissued transplants during the last 37 years. For more information on organ and tissue donation, please call the Gift of Life at 1-800-DONORS-1 or visit its website, www.donors1.org.

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SOURCE Hospital of University of Pennsylvania