Everything You Need to Know About Hand Transplant Procedures and Outcomes

GetWellGo explains hand transplant surgery, recovery steps, and success rates—supporting international patients in regaining function and confidence.

Everything You Need to Know About Hand Transplant Procedures and Outcomes

  • Category

    General

  • Published By

    GetWellGo Team

  • Updated on

    25-Aug-2025

Hand transplant surgery

Hand transplant surgery is a very complex process whereby the patient gets both hands or single hand as a result of a transplant surgery using the hands of a dead body. It is similar to vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) which is the transplanting of several tissue types, including skin, muscle, bone, nerves and blood vessels.

What is Hand Transplant Surgery?

Hand transplant surgery is used in restoring the hand (or hands) lost through traumatic injury, infection or congenital absence. In contrast to a prosthetic limb, a transplanted hand is capable of providing sensation, motion, and a more natural feeling look, but they come with the need of immunosuppressant therapies throughout their life.

Procedure Steps

Evaluation & Matching

  • Thorough medical, psychological and immunological assessment.
  • Blood group, tissue and size, skin tone donor-recipient matching.

Surgery

  • Takes 12-24 in case it is complex.

Steps:

  • Donor and recipient arm preparation.
  • Plating and screwing of bones.
  • Lifting up muscles, nerves and tendons.
  • Repairing of the arteries and veins to revive circulation.
  • Closing skin.

Post-surgery Care

  • Monitoring of availability of the blood and rejection.
  • Physical treatment on mobility and strength.
  • Life long and immunosuppressant drugs.

Recovery & Rehabilitation

  • Hospitalization: 2-4weeks.
  • Physical therapy: This entails intensive day to day rehabilitation of months and/or years.
  • It may take 1-2 years before movement and sensation have fully recovered.
  • Follow-ups must be life-long.

Best hospitals for hand transplant

  • Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon
  • Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon
  • Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
  • Max Hospital, Saket

Factors Affecting Hand transplant cost in India

Here is a outlook of the main factors affecting price of hand transplant surgery in India judging by latest data and reports:

Experience & Multiplicity of Surgical Team

  • It requires a large dedicated team of highly specialized people-sometimes as many as 40 people-and involves a process 14 to 16 hours start to finish in a successful transplant 
  • Physicians with a successful history of microsurgery and vascular composite allotransplantation (VCA) generally command greater rates 

Hospital Infrastructure & Location

  • Prices differ a lot across the different hospitals depending on their reputation, the quality of their facilities and the city they are located:
  • The metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai are most likely to hike a price tag Higher. 
  • A greater estimate is stated by the specialized private providers
  • In some privatized situations, instruments of bilateral hand transplant can become more expensive.

Pre-Surgery Workup and Coordination of the Donor

  • Extensive pre-surgical assessments (immunological, imaging, blood, compatibility analysis) tend to become even more expensive.
  • Finding a satisfactory donor, particularly to match the donor with the recipient, may create logistical and financial burden 

Post-Op Recovery, Rehabilitation and Immunosuppression

  • It is imperative to use lifelong immunosuppressive medications 
  • The total cost is also raised by the costs in the immunosuppressants.
  • Always more expensive, physical and occupational therapy may take months, or years.

Location costs 

Other items of expenses are:

  • Transport and accommodation of patients involved travelling in smaller towns or international locations 
  • Long period hospitalizations, which can be about 3 or more weeks depending on complications 
  • Fees of sky attendants, foods, and travel.

Indirect-Long-term Costs

Other estimations will have included indirect costs like:

  • Loss of working days by the patient and the care givers.
  • Anecdotal reports of follow-up a year or so later.
  • Psychological assistance in the course of adaptation and rehabilitation

Top doctors for hand transplant surgery

  • Dr. IPS Oberoi
  • Dr. Sanjay Sarup
  • Dr. Adarsh Aggarwal
  • Dr. Rashmi Chopra
  • Dr. Vikas Gupta

Hand and arm transplant treatment

A hand and arm transplant (also called upper extremity transplant) is a form of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA), in which one or both hands, and in some cases the forearm or even the arm up to the elbow or beyond, are transplanted to a recipient who has lost these by trauma, infection or disease.

What is Hand and Arm Transplant?

  • In contrast to prosthetics, skin, muscle, bone, nerves, tendons, and blood vessels all can be restored by a hand or arm transplant.
  • The operation is not life- preserving (such as kidney or liver transplants) but life enhancing, restoring sensation and function.
  • Several successful cases of double hand transplants have been conducted in India in the late 1990s.

Who is Eligible?

You normally have candidates:

  • Patients with hand/arm that has been lost due to trauma.
  • Individuals who do not have a significant medical history which would complicate immunosuppression.
  • People with good psychological vigor (who can find it difficult to adapt to a new limb).
  • Patients pledged to the entirety of long-term drug and rehabilitation.

The Procedure

Pre-Transplant Workup

  • Countless medical examination (blood type, HLA profiling, cross matching).
  • Taking of photos of bones and vessels.
  • Psychological assessment to make them emotionally ready.

Surgery (12-24 hour)

  • Donor limb is excised and preserved.
  • The recipient has his/her limb stump prepared.
  • Stepwise means bones, tendons, blood vessels, muscles, nerves and skin.
  • The circulation of blood is resumed when arteries and veins are fuelled together.

Post-Surgery

  • Close monitoring of the patient is done in regard to blood supply and signs of rejection.
  • The start of immunosuppressants happens immediately

Recovery & Rehabilitation

  • Hospital Stay: 2-4week.
  • Physiotherapy: Hard core and prolonged (months to years).

Functional Recovery:

  • Early movements in 36 months.
  • Eventual recovery of feeling and dexterity on a 1-2 years scale.
  • Lifelong Care: taking anti-rejection medicines and appointments on a regular basis.

Benefits

  • Recovery of appearance, movement and touch.
  • Capacity to handle everyday activities that include holding, eating writing, driving.
  • Psychological recovery (self-confidence, re-integration).

Hand transplant in India by GetWellGo

GetWellGo is a medical tourism company in Gurugram assists international patients to get the treatment from the world class Indian hospitals. Amongst others, their services are:

  • Hospital & doctor including the transplant specialties
  • Full medical evaluation, and if needed, second opinions
  • Costing, travel organization & logistics (visas, accommodation, travel)
  • Post-treatment guidance

Why Choose GetWellGo for Hand Transplant Surgery?

GetWellGo is regarded as a leading supplier of healthcare services. We help our foreign clients choose the best treatment locations that suit their needs both financially and medically.

We offer:

  • Complete transparency
  • Fair costs.
  • 24 hour availability.
  • Medical E-visas
  • Online consultation from recognized Indian experts.
  • Assistance in selecting India's top hospitals for Hand Transplant surgery.
  • Expert doctor with a strong track record of success
  • Assistance during and after the course of treatment.
  • Language Support
  • Travel and Accommodation Services
  • Case manager assigned to every patient to provide seamless support in and out of the hospital like appointment booking
  • Local SIM Cards
  • Currency Exchange
  • Arranging Patient’s local food

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